Hello again! Have you ever thought of the working conditions of textile manufacturing factories? It might not be as clean and pleasant as you think it is. Let us jump into the cause of air pollution caused by fast fashion and this post will be focusing on air pollution from manufacturing textile and further elaborate on the toxic process of dyeing and producing the textile. As we have covered in our previous posts, we have talked about the toxins from the wastewaters from the dyeing factories but it is also worth mentioning that the fumes and particles that are being produced during the manufacturing of the textiles are also a great concern.
Synthetic dyes have been used since its invention to achieve fast dyeing as a means to catch up with the speed of production due to the fast fashion industry. Even though this method of dyeing uses chemicals that are toxic to the workers in the factories, it is still favoured for the quick process (Kant, 2012). Kant (2012) also mentioned that these chemicals such as heavy metals used are released from the process and are breathed in, in which it could have detrimental effects on the person. There are also other occupational hazards that workers within can be affected by which includes “respiratory hazards due to poor ventilation such as cotton dust and synthetic air particulates” (Bick, Halsey, Ekenga 2018). These are the possible air pollution that is happening within the factories due to the dyeing processes of manufacturing textiles. Not only will these workers be working in uncomfortable environments, but it also causes long term effects on the workers’ health. It is therefore important to be aware of the indoor pollution within the factories rather than just focusing on the pollution that the factory emits.
Next, other than fabrics, there are also leathers that will require certain treatments before they can be used as a textile. This process, also known as tanning, requires large quantities of chemicals such as chromium which is detrimental to the workers in these factories and these workers could suffer from skin diseases in various severity. In the tanning process, as seen in Figure 1, there are many processes that could contribute to the air pollution that happens within or around the tannery. The minute particles that are produced throughout the process consist of chemical and leather dust where “(c)hemical dust can be produced during the loading of hide-processing drums” and “(l)eather dust is produced during mechanical operations” (Osinsky, n.d.). Treating the leather includes buffing where it produces the most dust and the environment is generally not a pleasant place to be in (Osinsky, n.d.). All these processes will definitely produce smoke as a by-product either from the chemical reactions or the treatment with heat. The smoke then creates air pollution which can be detrimental to the health for those who are exposed as they have chances of developing “various bronchitis and respiratory infections and also a variety of cancers” (Garg, 2020). This has definitely brought light onto the pollutive processes of tanning leather, and personally, it has made me more aware of the pollution that is being generated. To add to such air pollution, fast fashion definitely has contributed to the pollution through the increase in production for leather to make the next new clothing. As people consume more clothes at a quicker rate, we could see more air pollution and definitely more workers will be put into such dangerous working environments.
From what we have shared about air pollution, we have to understand that air pollution comes from not only the aspect of textile production mentioned above. Air pollution comes from every aspect of textile production and it will only become worse as fast fashion trends always get renewed quickly.
References:
Bick, R., Halsey, E., & Ekenga, C. C. (2018). The global environmental injustice of fast fashion. Environmental Health, 17(1), 92. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-018-0433-7
Garg, P. (2020). Introduction to Fast Fashion: Environmental Concerns and Sustainability Measurements. In V. Shukla & N. Kumar (Eds.), Environmental Concerns and Sustainable Development: Volume 2: Biodiversity, Soil and Waste Management (pp. 409-427). Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6358-0_18
Kant, R. (2012) Textile dyeing industry an environmental hazard. Natural Science, 4, 22-26. doi: 10.4236/ns.2012.41004.
Osinsky, D. Chapter 88 – Leather, Fur and Footwear. Retrieved 9 October 2020, from http://www.ilocis.org/documents/chpt88e.htm
