Ending the Waste

As both textile consumers, and as professional manufacturers working within the printing Industry, the impact of climate change affects us all. Whether we are aware of them or not, each and every one of the incremental actions we all take daily, be they positive or negative, have a sustainable consequence and will therefore impact every aspect of our existence, both professional and private. 

If we are to encourage sustainable practices, the industry must collaborate to deliver a sustainable future. 

Let look at the facts: Historically the textiles industry has been the second biggest polluter of our environment, only surpassed by the petroleum Industry. That seems a striking statement; but to understand why, we have to look at the size of the textiles industry and the incredibly complicated supply chain that supports its ecosystem. 

According to the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, textile production produces 1.2 billion tons of greenhouse gas every year. The United Nations estimates that 10 percent of total global emissions come from the fashion industry alone, and the Industry is responsible for over 20% of the wastewater emissions. But, the impact of the textiles and clothing Industry on the environment goes beyond emissions.

Textile chemical effluent damages the water table and waterways, toxic air pollutants ruin air quality, and in the vast manufacturing communities of the East, particularly in China, the intensive energy requirements for textile processing retains the need for coal-fired power stations. 

Yet, as this gloomy picture is painted, there are still many reasons to be optimistic. The industry is switching to sustainable sources at a rapid pace. As consumer knowledge about climate change and the detrimental effects of the products they purchase has grown, so has the demand for sustainably sourced alternatives.  

Consumers are driving demand, they expect viable product options and they seek an informed choice, which has led to a growing demand for supply chain transparency. As a result of this growing demand, the industry has a new requirement from the buying teams and global super brands for a sustainable, transparent supply. As history has proven over and over again, commerce is driven by supply and demand, and in this instance the results will be positive.

The carbon footprint of every supply chain, regardless of product or Industry, is now under scrutiny. As the super brands – H&M, Inditex, Gucci, Adidas etc. – pledge "Carbon Neutrality" as a fundamental part of their mission statements, there is a new measure of cost for the industry; the cost of carbon emissions has now become a factored component of selling price. For the textile manufacturer, the fabrics we utilize must therefore increasingly be of a certified origin. 

In an industry that has not previously been historically regulated, we also see a growing demand for voluntary certification. The pathway to retail must be environmentally efficient. In every sector of the supply chain we are witnessing systemic change. 

However, in an industry as vast and historic as the textile sector, adoption takes time and the industry cannot simply switch to sustainable practices overnight. 

Technology has to develop alongside a seismic demand for the innovations capable of delivering the industry’s consumables. As an industry, we consume billions of tons of fiber, inks and chemistry (to name just a few essentials) and use trillions of liters of water as well as a vast use of energy in our processes. To manufacture sustainably in the intense volumes and the speed required will take billions of dollars of investment in renewable energy, recycling, waste management and refinement.

Without question, the textiles industry is investing in the necessary technology to define a new Industrial era of sustainable manufacturing. 

Leading the way to a cleaner and more sustainable environment is the growth and development of the Digital Textile Printing industry. While still a small proportion of the world’s total print space at around 5%, the sector is predicted to grow at an astonishing rate, with a CAGR of 17.5% predicted to 2023 (Smithers).

Digital Textile Printing, and by way of example; pigment printing, has a strong future and a positive environmental impact for our sector. Digital Textile Printing using the pigment ink set hardly consumes any water, discharges no toxic effluent and saves 80% of the electricity used when compared to analog technology, nor does it contribute significantly to air pollution. 

Throughout the Digital Textile Printing sector, sustainability is a key driver for change as inkjet solutions deliver a new generation of textile manufacturing equipment that is capable of printing on demand, sustainably, with the necessary quality, and at great speed when necessary. The observer may well ask, how has this been achieved? The answer lies in examining the role of Digital Textile Printing and the environmental savings that it has created. 

First, Digital Textile Printing is described as a substantially waterless process. In conventional analog screen printing, the colors that are to be printed are made up in bulk, often in a large-scale computer-controlled color ink kitchen. The volumes of color paste (mixed using water) required for screen printing are so much greater than for digital. An average screen print will consume over 40cc of ink per square meter, while an average digital printer will only consume 8cc per square meter. 

A further advantage is that there is no waste ink in the digital printing process, because the ink used is only that which is dispensed from the printhead and then jetted to the fabric being printed, while with screen printing, particularly on short runs, the ink usage is naturally greater, and waste is generated from screen wash offs and redundant color. 

Utilizing the Digital Textile Print process also amounts to a huge 90%+ savings in water usage. 

It follows from this that because there is no ink waste during the digital process, there is no need for any discharge of textile effluent. This is in stark contrast to screen printing, where surplus color and screen wash-off product have to be discharged to waste, requiring, at the very least, an effluent treatment plant to rectify the chemical imbalance before it reaches the water table. 

Unfortunately, in many countries, such textile effluent is discharged directly into rivers and streams, causing irremediable downstream pollution. The Chinese textile industry alone discharges over 2.5 billion tons of wastewater every year. 

Moving on to energy savings, particularly electricity, digital printing consumes a fraction of the electricity consumed by screen printing. The reason for this is simply in the methods used to apply and dry the inks. 

On a digital printer, moving parts are at a minimum, and because it isn’t a contact printing system, and because the water volumes for drying are so minimal, the electric requirement is very low. This is in contrast to rotary screen printing, where, because it is drying a much greater water volume and has geared drives at every color station combined with full-width fabric transport, analog printing uses up to four times as much electricity as a digital textile printer. 

Finally, turning to air pollution, where again, because of the water volumes being used and the small amount of residual liquid on the surface of the fabric that has to be dried, the fabric dryer for digital print emits ultra-low volumes of air pollutants through the drying system’s exhaust fans.

This is in stark contrast to screen printing, where, again because of the amount of surface liquid involved, there are large volumes of noxious substances emitted during drying and thermo fixation. 

Beyond the technical considerations and savings outlined above, Digital Textile Printing delivers an elegant solution to sustainable supply by facilitating on-demand-production in providing an elegant, cost-effective solution to overstocks and landfill issues. 

Relying on its speed to market and its ease of file handling and workflow, Digital Textile Printing provides a true on-demand business model, where stock is produced not on speculation but against real demand. 

This system doesn’t produce close-outs or fire sales to clear unwanted stock, but services the actual needs of the market as they arise, with the result that its products are manufactured to intelligent stock forecasts, produced sustainably, and brands and retailers don’t end up placing excess inventory in landfills.

Textile re-equipment planners all over the world are looking to Digital Textile Printing to provide solutions not only to address speed-to-market, customization and on-demand questions, but also to take advantage of the benefits of an eco-friendly, sustainable technology that makes it a winning proposition in today’s world market of millennials and Gen Zers, who are often much more environmentally conscious than their predecessor generations. 

In summary: 

Much is made of the waste created in the fashion Industry and the incredible volumes of unwanted clothing sent to landfills. But to really appreciate where the industry must change, we have to look at the cycle of origination. If we are to become sustainable in our manufacturing processes, we have to design products differently from the very beginning and adopt digital technologies throughout the manufacturing and distribution process. 

Turning around an Industry of this magnitude cannot be done overnight. As an industry, we do not have the technologies in place to recycle the volumes of fabrics needed to use truly sustainable textiles. We must create new processes and technologies that facilitate recycling, clean manufacturing, and the adoption of renewable energies; and importantly, we must seek to educate the entire supply chain and the next generation in the application of sustainable practices.

Circular design is a must for the well being of the planet, our environment and the future of the textiles industry. Never before has transparency been more necessary in the supply chain. We must move forward to redefine the journey of the products we create if we are to build successful businesses for the future. As the super brands increasingly switch over to adopt carbon neutral supply chains, those that do not adopt sustainable practices and invest in digital technologies will lose market share. This is what has happened in just about every other industry that has undergone, or is undergoing, an analog-to-digital transformation, and the textiles industry will be no different.