Green Accounting and Management for Sustainable Manufacturing in the Textile Industry

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Patty L’Abbate

Green Accounting and Management for Sustainable Manufacturing in the Textile Industry

Biblioteca gratuita on line di

Patty L’Abbate

Green Accounting and Management for Sustainable Manufacturing in the Textile Industry

Patty L’Abbate GREEN ACCOUNTING AND MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE MANUFACTURING in the Textile Industry

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE

7

by Giuseppe Ioppolo

ABSTRACT

11

INTRODUCTION

13

1. THE PATH OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

14

1.1 Motivations and goal of the project

15

1.2 Volume structure

15

2. THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS AND THE ECONOMY-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS

17

2.1 The “environment”: what is that?

17

2.2 Environmental concerns and their relations to products, materials and processes

23

2.3 Karl William Kapp: systems thinking

31

2.4 Bioeconomy

32

2.5 Ecological economy

37

2.6 Sustainable development

37

2.7 Green economy and green accounting

40

2.8 Circular economy

42

2.9 Summary

44

3. ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING

46

3.1 Introduction

46

3.2 National environmental accounting

46

3.3 Environmental accounting for companies

53

3.4 Life cycle management

55

3.5 Organization environmental footprint, product environmental footprint

56

3.6 Eco-innovation and eco-design

58

3.7 Environmental label

63

3.8 Life cycle thinking

63

3.9 Summary

64

4. THE ANALYSIS TOOLS OF LIFE CYCLE THINKING

67

4.1 Introduction

67

4.2 Fundamental of life cycle assessment

67

4.3 Structure LCA

72

4.4 The different types of life cycle assessment

88

4.5 Hybrid LCA life cycle costing, social life cycle assessment, life cycle sustainability assessment

91

4.6 Summary

94

5. APPLICATION OF LCA FOR SUSTAINABLE MANUFACTURING IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY. ITALIAN CASE STUDY

95

5.1 Introduction

95

5.2 Textile industry: state of the art

95

5.3 Material & process in the textile industry

96

5.4 Methodology: setting LCS analysis

102

5.5 Summary

128

6. RESULT

132

6.1 LCI results

132

6.2 Impact analysis results

134

6.3 Discussion

142

7. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

144

7.1 Conclusions

144

7.2 Contributions of this research

145

7.3 Recommendations

145

7.4 Suggested follow-up

146

8. REFERENCES

147

9. AUTHOR’S BIO

169

PREFACE

by Giuseppe Ioppolo1

Over the last twenty years we have witnessed a progressive change in production systems thanks to the introduction of ever new and more efficient technologies and production methods. Among the new business models introduced on the market, innovation in the textile industry is certainly among the most successful. However, the strengths of this production area are at the same time linked to the increasing attention to the connected environmental impacts.

The damage to the environment caused by the textile industry is increasingly evident in the reality in which we live, such as problems related to pollution and the depletion of resources. Today, however, consumers must be increasingly aware of these consequences and it is from these considerations that the idea of writing this volume arises, which has both technical-scientific, but also training characteristics.

With this work, the author, by combining a methodological approach, typical of the research criteria of the commodity sciences, wanted in particular to highlight the consequences on the environment deriving from the production systems of the textile industry, starting from the characteristics that they determine success in order to finally reach some more sustainable alternatives on the market.

For companies operating in this sector, a first step along this path is the ability to assess the environmental, economic and social impacts associated with their production processes, from the point of view of the life cycle, including the different actors in the chain of supplying.

LCA could represent a strategic tool to appear a conventional technology to a newly developed one, also in textile industry sector, but also it is useful to analyze the composition of a textile product and the related environmental impacts.

This supports, in the European textile sector, the enrichment of mandatory labeling, relating to the fibrous composition of the product, regulated by Legislative Decree 194/99. In fact, this decree imposes the obligation to indicate only the type of fibers that make up the dress and the relative percentage, thus leaving the consumer unaware of the multiple chemical compounds present in their clothes. In this context of incomplete information on clothing labels, voluntary labels have been introduced that certify the commitment made by a company in safeguarding the environment and enhancing the highest quality products. Among the most relevant labels in the textile field we mention the international Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) brand, the OEKO-TEX Standard 100 and the European Ecolabel brand, and are based precisely on the adoption of 1

Ioppolo Giuseppe is Full Professor in Commodity Science – (Environmental Management) at the University of Messina. Author of about 110 publications. He serves as Section Editor in-Chief of the journal Sustainability-MDPI. His main research topics are: sustainability, circular economy, urban metabolism, and sustainable lean management.

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LCA tools.

This approach becomes truly relevant in this production sector in Italy, which has been able to maintain its advantage in the global market, in particular in the segments related to fashion and luxury goods. The textile industry is a strategic sector for “made in Italy”, which represents a production sector of enormous importance for the economy of the country. The latest data from the Italian Fashion System (SMI), the federation representing over 400,000 employees and almost 50,000 companies in the sector, report a turnover of 52 billion euros (+1.8%) in 2016.

Traditionally, the sector generates a commercial surplus, second only to that of the mechanical industry. The competitiveness of the fashion sector is due to investments in innovation, research and product development, as well as in the tradition of some phases of the production process, knowhow and synergistic collaboration between the various phases of the supply chain. Kerr and Landry, authors of the report “The Pulse of the Fashion Industry” published in 2017 by the Global Fashion Agenda (world leading forum on the sustainability of the textile industry) in collaboration with the American multinational management consultancy The Boston Consulting Group, highlighted the environmental impact of the textile industry in terms of CO2 emissions, chemical compounds, waste of resources and pollution and water consumption. In fact, there are several studies that classify fashion as one of the most polluting industries in the world and, in particular, it is estimated that with the advent of fast fashion, environmental damage has increased considerably.

Environmental problems are essentially linked to the increase in production and purchases by consumers who, as seen, represent the strengths of the fast fashion model. In fact, the speed of the production cycle with which fast fashion companies make their clothing requires the immediate availability of a considerable quantity of raw materials (textile fibers) and this is why fast fashion makes use above all of fibers. artificial and synthetic.

The textile fibers used by companies for the creation of fashion items can be natural such as cotton, linen, wool or man-made: the so-called manmade fibers. The latter can in turn be divided into artificial fibers deriving from polymers of natural origin and synthetic fibers made instead, through the use of chemicals, or substances that are difficult to degrade and therefore have a high environmental impact.

However, it is not only the origin of the fiber that determines a greater or lesser environmental impact. Even vegetable fibers in certain cases can be harmful to the environment depending on the production methods used.

In this regard, it may be interesting to take a look at the different phases in which the textile supply chain branches out, phases that are the cause of the emission and discharge of substances harmful to humans and the environment. There are five main processing operations in which the supply chain is divided, more precisely: the production of fiber, the production of natural or synthetic yarns, the production of fabric or knitwear through the transformation of the yarns, the packaging of the garments, the distribution and sale of the finished garment.

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At the time of collection, all the fibers of natural origin contain foreign bodies and impurities that must be eliminated. Therefore, before becoming a continuous thread, the fibers must undergo different preparation processes. The fiber production and preparation phase is followed by that relating to the production of the yarns. The spinning process can be mechanical or chemical and leads to the transformation of the fibers into a single thread. At the end of the process, this thread is wrapped in a package or in a skein to be used in the next phase.

However, in order to obtain the yarns or fabrics from the yarns, the thread must first be ‘prepared’ so that it can slide easily on the loom. The thread, therefore, “is impregnated with chemical substances (size) or coated with substances such as bonding oils or paraffins”. At this point, once the fabric is produced, it is ready to be ‘ennobled’. The ennobling phase of the fabric also includes several processes such as dyeing, printing and finishing which give the garment specific characteristics, namely: color, tactile effects, performance and prints. The dyeing phase is however considered one of the most polluting as it is characterized by a considerable use of chemical substances which, in addition to remaining impregnated in the fabric, then flow into the waste water of the factories.

The author, before arriving at the results on the study of the textile industry, through a careful life cycle analysis carried out with the use of LCA software tools, dedicates the first part of the volume by presenting environmental concerns and the economy-environment interactions, and a useful overview of environmental accounting tools and analysis tools of life cycle thinking.

The volume shows the necessary multidisciplinary approach to sustainable development policies applied to the textile industry. The author manages to build a clustered cognitive model that represents an excellent example of the essential culture and preparatory to the new circular economy policies. While understanding the limits for the vastness of the topics covered, this volume allows us to highlight the approaches of the commodity sciences applied to the product and process life cycle, in a new and certainly competitive vision that acquires the themes of the bioeconomy and ecological economy .

9

10

ABSTRACT

In recent years the importance of natural capital in the daily life of all living species on our planet is gaining increasing importance. The main implementation approach suggested to obtain environmental accounting, for a policy of sustainable production and consumption is: Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) with its operational tool: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), able to calculate environmental indicators and accompanying companies in a more sustainable transition to mode of production and consumption (EU strategy 20:20). In the study, the instrument LCA, was applied to a polyester product in the textile (fabric for the house), from cradle to grave, with the aim to identify environmental indicators and advise the company on how to make innovation and produce in an environmentally friendly manner. In literature, the work carried out on textiles with LCA, often reports outdated and incomplete data, also no work has ever studied what changes from the point of view of environmental impacts if you vary the characteristics of the fabric, such as the thickness of the yarn used and the density of the fabric. The software used is the new CMLCA designed by CML Leiden, which is still being tested. The results produce a series of useful information: you calculate the total elementary streams in pollutants such as formaldehyde, carbon dioxide, and volatile organic compounds (VOC), and water resources; the contribution of environmental impact of each process of the life cycle is calculated; and the same is done for the impact of the fabric obtained by varying the characteristics of the process, such as the thickness of the yarn and the density of the fabric. Then, a comparison between a fabric made with natural raw material (cotton) and one with synthetic material (polyester) is carried out; and finally there is an analysis of two different scenarios for the end of life (and landfill, incineration). From the results obtained, a series of changes on the processes and how to improve the technology of the phase of yarn dyeing are recommended, such as paying attention to the finishing stage, especially if in the future the company intends to certify the product (Ecolabel). It is also suggested to increase the thickness of the yarn used and to decrease the density of the fabric, as far as possible, because these actions would lead to loss of aesthetic quality. At the end of life, it is seen that the scenario with the incinerator is to be preferred to that with the landfill. Finally, another critical point is the production of fiber and polyester yarn, phases that contribute to 74.4% of the total life cycle impact. This means that the best solution would be the recycling of the product, in order to decrease the use of virgin material avoiding impacts that occur during the production of fiber and yarn, and then decrease the use of non-renewable fossil resources. Government policies should encourage recycling in home textiles, not yet very active. It would be useful in the future to deepen studies on alternative raw materials, such as waste products of corn processing or the fibers obtained from molasses, (waste of sugar production). For more information you could combine the LCA tool that calculates environmental indicators, the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) and the Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA), to get a 11

complete picture and to design sustainable products not only from the point of view of the environment but also of the economy, and society.

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INTRODUCTION In recent years the importance of natural capital in the daily life of all living species on our planet is gaining increasing importance. The production system developed by men is in stark contrast to the protection of the ecosystem as it is based on the exploitation of limited resources and is insensitive to the damage caused by the exploitation. Much work has been done in the direction of sustainable development, with the use of the instrument green economy, and now we are moving towards the concept of circular economy, however more efforts are needed. The green and circular thinking should guide development in SMEs, green circular management models and businesses that must encourage consumers towards more sustainable lifestyles (EC 2013). SMEs need support to optimize its products through an eco-friendly design that will lead to a competitive advantage (EC 2010). Many technical efforts have been made over the years to develop an environmental accounting. There is general agreement that these methods and tools must be based on a life-cycle approach (UNEP 2011) (EC 2011 681). This means that the environmental behavior must be assessed on all phases of the product life from “cradle to grave”: mining, processing of raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, use and end of life (EC 2011/681). The environmental assessment on the basis of the life cycle has been formalized and shown as “Life Cycle Assessment” (LCA), (ISO 14040, SETAC 1993). The analysis of production cycles performed with the LCA method in addition to obtaining indicators to evaluate the critical points from the environmental point of view, can provide useful results for communication and marketing (ecolabels, development of ISO III criteria environmental statement) (EC 2013). The following work applies the LCA to a company in the textile sector. This sector consists mainly of SMEs, and in recent years has suffered a general drop in production. There was also a drop in production on raw materials both natural and synthetic (Eurostat 2014). The polyester (PET) is currently the most widely used fiber, and is also the fiber that will be most available in the future (Aizenshtein 2010). In the following work after analyzing the global concerns about the consequences of human activities on the system and assessed the need to protect natural capital, making an overview of the methods of green accounting, developed in recent years. The tool most used by the scientific community and recommended by the European Community, is used for the analysis of the life cycle of a textile product of Italian SMEs, to obtain useful indicators to guide decision making in the selection of environmental alternatives. In this way the company will be able to design in an environmentally responsible manner, respecting the ecosystem and being more competitive.

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1. THE PATH OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

This paper outlines the methodological assumptions, the activities and results of a research developed over four years 2011-2015, the period of the PhD. From this project derived several papers presented at international conferences in the field and also scientific publications (given in references).

The research path has had a remarkable evolution over the four years. In the first year of studies the preliminary phase of the research activity started with a substantial international literature review of the authors that is relevant to the sustainable management of natural capital, calculation of flows of matter and energy, environmental accounting, cycle assessment of the product life, regulations of the European community on sustainable production. Both methods of national accounts have been studied, which accounts of physical business flows. To be precise, in the first year the study has focused on the analysis input/output in physical units, the method used for the National accounts and I attended a number of seminars on PhD studies and international conferences. In the following years, I attended seminars, conferences and summer schools on green accounting applied to companies, in particular, using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. In the most recent directives and regulations in the energy and environment, the study of the environmental impact of a product or process through the analysis of the life cycle has become compulsory both in public administration and various industrial sectors.

The following are some of the rules: the Integrated Product Policy (IPPC 2003), the Sustainable Development Strategy (EU 2006) and in 2013 the guide: “The recommendations regarding the methods for using them to measure and communicate the environmental performance throughout the cycle product life and organizations” developed as part of the initiative: Strategy Europe 20:20 ReSource: Efficient Europe. The literature search was extended to the application of LCA to the textile chain and lasted until 2014 precisely to integrate the latest European Community standards and the latest work to date in the textile sector. From 2012 to 2014, we proceeded to the collection of data to compile the study of LCA applied to the textile product of the Italian case study. All this time it was necessary to acquire data directly from the companies linked to the one analyzed, and by industry experts, such as the company and representatives of the Chinese yarn. These data are not found in the database, or even in literature. The data collected must include, firstly, the spatial dimension: they geographically describe the country where the processes take place and therefore local factors. Secondly, the temporal dimension, as they were collected during the last years when modern technology was used for the processes (2007-2012). In 2013, to improve skills on LCA methodology, I have attended courses at the Institute of Environmental Sciences, for Industrial Ecology (CML) at Leiden University, The Netherlands, as a “visiting researcher.” One of the courses was the Advanced Course on Life Cycle Assessment, during which I have acquired new competences on the use of the new calculation software CMLCA, built by the research center who remembers years ago invented the Simapro, 14

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In recent years, natural capital in the daily life of all living species on our planet is gaining increasing importance, because it is a critical capital. The main implementation approach suggested to obtain environmental accounting, for sustainable production and consumption policy is the Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) with its operational tool: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). LCA is capable of calculating environmental indicators and accompanying companies in more sustainable production. According to the study, the LCA tool was applied to an Italian polyester fabric (Apulia Stretch company in Apulia region) to innovate and improve the sustainability of products and increase their competitiveness on international markets.

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