Fabrics

• To produce a plastic bag of 20 g, 40 g of oil are needed. • Besides being an enormous pollutant of our environment, plastic bags pose a threat to animals, as they might eat or become entangled in them. In addition, especially for children, there’s a risk of suffocation due to plastic bags. • While plastic bags are far from being non-polluting, the alternatives aren’t much better: paper and cotton bags do quite a lot of damage, too. Relatively speaking, a paper bag has to be used 3 times, and a cotton bag 131 times, to be as environmentally-friendly as a recycled plastic bag. Next time you’re in a store and about to put your purchases in a plastic bag, keep these things in mind. Even better, just remember to bring a reusable bag from home!

Lea

Do you check the materials in your clothes, cushions or other textiles when you buy and use them? And if you do, do you know what they mean for the environment?

The techniques of growing and making different textiles have, depending on the type of fabric, different environmental impacts on water use, water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, as well effects as on health through the chemicals released when dyeing or bleaching occur later in the process. Unfortunately, there is not one single sustainable fabric as a solution for the whole industry. This chapter should give you a rough overview of the different fibres and their implication for the planet and people, as an initial orientation.

Natural fibres are those materials extracted from plants or animals in a natural way. But they also account for a high environmental impact in terms of water and resource scarcity and global warming.

Cotton is grown on plantations, mostly in monoculture, in China, India, the USA and Pakistan. Processed cotton is made from the white coating inside the plant’s bud, which is easily picked. The fibre is easy to process and very versatile. On the EU textile marke,t 43% of all fibres used are cotton fibres. What is problematic in current cotton growing practice is the fact that it needs a lot of water as well as land, and conventional crop growing involves a lot of toxic fertilizers and pesticides for weed control. Compared to conventional cotton, the organic version is much more gentle on the environment, as it uses less water and pesticides. Moreover, the social issues connected to cotton growth are known, most recently from the glyphosat scandal, where poor farmers are made economically dependent on big corporations.

Linen is one of the oldest fabrics produced by humankind, and once again in vogue as it is very comfortable and hypoallergenic. It is made out of flax in a rather labour-intensive process.

Hemp is, similarly to linen, labour-intensive in production. While many of the plant’s parts can be used for various purposes, there are often chemicals involved in making the actual fibre.

Wool is water-repellent, self-cleaning and heat-insulating. There are several types of wool, from angora to cashmere to merino wool or camel hair, depending on the source. The environmental impact of wool is mostly due to high greenhouse gas emissions, thus contributing to global warming and environmental pollution. Moreover, so-called "mulesing" is a problem for animal welfare. This is a practice where, in order to prevent inflammation, the skin folds of the sheep are cut, causing the animals a lot of pain. To make sure you’re not contributing to such practices, you can look for mulesing-free wool.

Despite being a very durable material, leather is problematic from an ethical and animal welfare perspective, as it is often not merely a by-product of the meat industry. The breeding of animals for leather production involves high water and energy usage, and the production of the material is quite laborious. However, there are more ethical alternatives entering the market, made from