10/11/2016 – New association helps companies meet Greenpeace Detox commitments
An association has been launched to help Italian textile suppliers meet Greenpeace Detox campaign goals.
Consorzio Italiano Implementazione Detox (CID) aims to encourage sustainability and innovation in textile production. Its members include 27 companies that supply fashion brands including Burberry, Prada, Valentino, Armani, and Gucci.
CID plans to promote research and offer technical and operational support to help companies meet the Greenpeace commitment to phase out 11 chemicals of concern by 2020. It will also encourage technological innovation in textile production processes.
Earlier this year, 20 textile suppliers, from the Prato and Como textile districts, signed up for the Greenpeace Detox commitments. This was overseen by trade body Confindustria Toscana Nord (CTN).
CTN President Andrea Cavicchi, said the new body was formed to bring the venture to a national level. He added that “a quality textile production with no risk for the environment has to be a national aim.”
And Greenpeace Italy senior campaigner, Chiara Campione, welcomed the new association as “a unique industry initiative.”
She told Chemical Watch: “With the launch of the CID, the Prato textile district has made a big step forward to broadening the level of ambition of their Detox commitment.”
At the launch event in Prato, a report by the laboratory BuzziLab and CID, scrutinising 228 dyestuffs’ compliance with Greenpeace’s Detox manufacturing restricted substances list (MRSL) was presented. The chemicals analysed represent 90% of colourants used by the textile supply chains worldwide.
It summarised the level of contaminations of dyestuffs by chemical analysis of four of the 11 groups of hazardous chemical substances in Greenpeace’s Detox MRSL:
aromatic amines derived from azodyes;
ethoxylated alkylphenols (APEOS);
phthalates, and
chlorophenols.
It found that in 70% of analysed colourants, the concentration of hazardous chemicals went beyond Detox limits. However only 0.8% would not be in compliance with the MRSL limits set by the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) group of global apparel brands.
Greenpeace Italy pollution campaign project manager, Giuseppe Ungherese, said the research identified “hidden sources of contamination in colorant substances” and enabled companies to choose products according to Detox standards.
Link to the article.