INTERNATIONAL CLEANER PRODUCTION INFORMATION CLEARINGHOUSE

CASE STUDY #3
1.   Headline: Minimized environmental effects in cotton
     production.
2.   Background: Cotton is a fibre obtained from the cotton
plant and it is grown and processed widely throughout the
world. Novotex's philosophy is to produce cotton with the
smallest possible impact on the environment, by minimizing
emissions, energy conservation and waste minimization. This can
be seen to be cleaner production in the widest meaning of the
term, involving all the stages from growing to recycling of
unwanted garments.
     Novotex uses two approaches to all the stages of garment
     production. They have attempted to put a measure on the
     term environmentally friendly by means of an
     'environmental value' for products between 0 and 100. An
     unattainable green product would be 100 and nuclear
     weapons could be thought of as 0. This principle has been
     applied to the stages of spinning, knitting, dyeing,
     finishing, garment production, packaging and
     transport. The company also carries out a Life Cycle
     Analysis (LAC) of each stage of production. In this
     analysis the environmental aspects of every operation are
     examined in detail from the beginning to the end - 'from
     the cradle to the grave'. These two overlapping
     philosophies are frequently re-examined so that
     continuing improvements may be made.
     Novotex A S is a textile company that was founded in 1983
     with nine employee shareholders. The company now has 100
     people employed directly and another 100 in closely
     related companies. Its turnover is approximately
     US$18million.
3.   Cleaner Production Principle: Internal recycling,
     material substitution, good housekeeping, process
     modification.
4.   Description of Cleaner Production Application: The
     process starts with the cotton growing. The company is
     trying to insist that all the cotton they process is
     organically grown. This means growing without artificial
     fertilizers, chemical pesticides and defoliant sprays.
     Apart from the more obvious advantages, cotton pickers
     can suffer woefully from the effects of these chemicals.
     Machine harvested cotton additionally requires crop
     dusting with chemicals.
     Company policy demands that all of the cotton used by
     Novotex is handpicked to avoid defoliants and does not
     contain pesticide residues. When the company started 1%
     of their cotton was organically grown, this is now 10%
     but the figure will increase with enlightenment of
     consumers around the world. In order that the term
     organic cotton is understood, the cotton is grown
     according to the ECO-labelling standards required for
     organic food production. The cotton is grown in various
     countries including Turkey, Peru, Morocco and Greece. New
     methods are allowing these principles to be applied.
     Vegetable compost and manure can supply the soil with
     sufficient nitrogen needs and organic materials.
     Spinning and knitting is usually accompanied by large
     volumes of dust. The cotton is spun on advanced computer
     controlled machines that need greater control of an
     otherwise dusty atmosphere. Only water soluble dyes are
     used and chloride for bleaching is eliminated by using
     hydrogen peroxide. The dyeing process is carried out in
     fully enclosed high pressure jet machines with reduced
     water consumption and no air pollution. In the drying
     process mechanical finishing is carried out, eliminating
     the use of chemicals, eg formaldehyde, resulting in an
     improved material quality. The making up of cotton
     garments is also a dusty operation and is carried out
     with dust extraction at the cutting and sewing machines.
     When a  user disposes of a garment they should think of
     its potential for recycling either for continued reuse by
     others or for conventional recycling to another use.
     All wastewater is purified in a neighboring treatment
     plant.
     Most of the dye and phosphorus is removed by chemical
     precipitation with lime and iron salts. Biological
     purification is carried out in 14m high towers using the
     activated sludge process. The water is then passed
     through sand filters and aerated before discharge.
5.   Economics: As might be imagined it is difficult to
     quantify all the benefits. The water consumption is
     reduced, with all of the cooling water being recycled.
     The dyeing processes now use only 50% of the original
     water consumption, the new cleaning processes use only
     one-third of the original heated cleaning water, the
     drying machines recycle 75% of the hot air used. The
     effluent water from the plant carries only a small
     fraction of the toxic material limits set by the water
     authority.
6.   Advantages: Organic methods produce healthy plants
     without polluting the soil and the surrounding
     environment. Improved environment for workers at all
     stages. The environmental impact of each stage of
     production has been minimized.
7.   Constraints: N/A
8.   Contacts:Mr Leif Norgaard
                  Managing Director
                  Novotex A S
                  Ellehammervej 8
                  DK-7430
                  Ikast
                  Denmark
                  Tel: +45 97 15 44 11
                  Fax: +45 97 25 10 14
                  Telex: 60327 DK
9.                  Keywords:Denmark, textile, cotton, process
                    modification, material substitution,
                    recycling, good housekeeping, water saving,
                    ecolabelling, LCA, life cycle analysis
10.  Reviewer comments: This case study was originally
     published in the UNEP IE document "Cleaner Production
     Worldwide". In the process of preparing the document the
     case study underwent a technical review.