Extending the lifespan of textiles:
50% CO2 reduction!
Professional Textile Care can make an inportant further contribution to CO2 reduction of textiles, making the sector even more sustainable: by washing more professionally, by extending the lifespan and finally by disposing of the textile under full control. This allows optimal reuse. Henk Gooijer, technical project leader at TKT, presented the results of CINET research into the sustainability effects of extending the life of textiles.
The study has three main conclusions:
- Lifetime extension (more cycles of use per product) is an effective way to reduce the impact of textile use on the environment.
- The potential savings are significant: for example doubling the service life from 5 to 10 use cycles reduces the CO2 impact on the environment by almost 50%.
- Because the technical life of textiles is much longer than the current actual use, the potential for further sustainability is huge.
“By wearing a cotton shirt (or comparable textile) not 10 but 20 times: 660,000 tons of CO2 are reduced every year and 260 million m3 liters of water are saved.”
Textile service is a catalyst
Professionals in the textile chain often do not know how the services of professional textile service companies are organised. In particular, the insight that textile service companies are involved in the purchase of textiles and in offering them as waste is new. As a result, the textile service companies can make agreements with the user about the composition and design of the textile, making it more valuable as waste.
