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Elianet Montejo Morell

Sustainability
02/05/2014

Trends pollution
Trends change rapidly throughout the world. Every year, approximately 450
million pairs of jeans are sold. Textile industry has big demand for denim. The
textile industry is one of the most important and rapidly developing industrial
sectors in many low wage labor countries specially China and Mexico. Creating a
pair of jeans has a high impact on the environment, since is it consumes a high
amount of water and produces highly polluted discharge water in large amounts
that always end up back in rivers. Wastewater must undergo a chemical treatment
to remove hazard chemicals from the water before releasing it to the rivers. Most
textile factories dont follow the regulations and dump the contaminated water into
the rivers killing everything with life.
During the decade of 1980s, the world witnessed the widespread of
companies moving to low wage countries. Millions of people needing an
employment welcomed this fast expanding factories. They also welcomed exposure
to illness, tons of chemicals in their air and rivers, and poor working conditions.
Tehuacn, located in a valley in central Mexico has more than 700 clothes
manufacturers. Tehuacn overlooked by volcanoes and laced by underground
waterways place of the gods in Nahuatl. The city used to be known for its pure
spring water and natives believed the water had healing properties. Ral
Hernndez, a water conservation activist has been working in the Tehuacn area for
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25 years. He says the local water used to be ideal for bottling, and a popular brand of
mineral water was even named after the city. According to Hernndez the water was
also used in a soft drink factory but it fizzled out after another industry that needs
easy access to large volumes of water took over; the blue jean industry. Mr.
Hernandez, who directs Water Forever a non-profit organization, says that most of
the water that goes through the blue jean factories comes out contaminated with
detergents, dyes, bleaches and other chemicals.
The signature denim color is made with indigo dye. Fifteen percent of the
total world production of dyes is lost during the dyeing process retrieved from
(http://www.nsti.org/procs/Nanotech2011v3/9/T9.137), and released in the textile
effluents in this case into the rivers that many people depend daily. To create the
faded look in blue denim that is very popular, the denim goes through a
stonewashing process to degrade the blue indigo. The outflow sent to the rivers
contains high concentrations of indigo dye waste. The effluents that end up in the
environment are raising concerns and damaging the integrity of the streams
because indigo is very difficult to decompose biologically.
One of the processes in the blue jeans manufacturing is the stonewashing to
give this kind of worn look to the denim. The worn looking denim became popular
in France during 1979, people tried many methods at home to get the worn look.
From wearing them wet and letting them dry on, bleaching and rubbing sand paper
and rocks. In 1981, four immigrant brothers from France created the company
named Guess. Their jeans were the first to achieve the worn look through a
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stonewashing process that took up to 12 hours. By 1986, the company was having
trouble finding launderers that could do the job since the process destroyed even
the toughest washing machines.
Removal of textile dyes from wastewater is one of the several major
environmental concern because they are difficult to be removed by the conventional
wastewater treatment systems (biological, physical and chemical methods) since
they are designed to be resistant to degradation or fading by oxidizing agents and
light. They must also be resistant to both high temperatures and enzyme
degradation resulting from detergent washing. During a test to prove how plants
absorbed dyes, about 70-75% was absorbed by wheat straw, wood chips and corn-
cob shreds (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0960-8524(99)00123-6). The results show how easily the
toxic dyes can be absorbed by food.
In China, rural textiles and dye industries have increased in the past years.
Significant amounts of dyes have escaped and have been absorbed by the
environment. During several tests in coastal and rural cities around China, the
scientists took samples of water from ponds and rivers around the factories and soil
from crops. There were also samples of potatoes, watermelon, rice, wheat, lotus
root, radish and soy beans to verify the transport of dyes from agricultural soil to
crops. The test resulted in a red dye found in the crops and soil. The average
concentration of dyes in watermelon and lotus root was 64.3 and 46.1 mg kg
-1

according to the Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. Many
crops have a great ability to absorb the toxic dyes from the soil.
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The soil and crops contamination doesnt just affect China and Mexico but
also many other Asian and Southern American countries. Governments dont take
actions to end with the dumping of contaminated water into clean waters or new
policies to help clean the toxic rivers and land. The blue water in Mexico affects
farmers and crops in China are becoming toxic from the dyes seeping through the
soil.
Online news The Guardian interviewed Mario Baragn, a local farmer in
Tehuacn. Mario looked down at the blue-grey crust peeling off the fields he
irrigates from a canal. Nearby factories cause the problem; they do what took years
of wearing in just a couple of hours. As well as being blue, it burns the seedlings
and sterilizes the Earth, the 67-year-old subsistence farmer said. Mario is not the
only farmer affected by the contaminated water, many other farmers from his
region and many others are in the same position as him.
Jeans were born to be used by workers, said local activist Martn Barrios to
the reporter of The Guardian (Retrieved from http:/ /www.theguardian.com/
environment/2007/aug/17/waste.pollution). Jeans can cost thousands of dollars
while they are produced on the backs of exploitation and environmental
destruction. Martn works for the local Human Rights Commission and he spends
most of his time defending workers rights in the factories, from large well-
established facilities to clandestine sweatshops that disappear at the first hint of
inspection. Activists are mostly concerned about the laundries where the clothes are
sent for distressing. Clothes are faded with large quantities of potassium
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permanganate (KMnO4), a bleaching agent once used to trigger illegal abortions. The
stonewashing procedure, fabric softening and lots of final washes leaves the denim
ready for sale, while many of the factories throw the bright indigo waste into the
rivers.
Over the years, many campaigns aided by US-based solidarity groups, have
persuaded the big companies to come up with new and more sustainable ideas to
treat the waste water. The largest independent direct action environmental
organization in the world Greenpeace, launched a report in Mexico, showing a
documentary about a family trying to get factories accountable for the pollution they
have been causing. Brands like Levis, Zara, Mango, Espirit and many others were
accused of causing the pollution. Over 400,000 people joined the campaign Toxic
Threads: Under Wraps, demanding a toxic free fashion and clean water. Just eight
days after the campaign was launched, Levis one of the most important denim
brands made an announcement that by the end of June 2013, the largest suppliers in
China and Mexico will be required to disclose pollution data. To the activists this
was a baby step on what could become the next revolution to provide clean water
and stop contamination.
Cultivation of naturally colored cotton is a greener alternative to produce
denim. Hemp could also be used to make denim, and it also doesnt require vast
amounts of water, fertilizer or pesticides. Not many corporations have invested
money to explore more about these environmentally friendly alternatives.

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Toxic discharge will continue coming from the clothing industry. Many high end
brands like Gap, Victoria Secrets and Calvin Klein are not taking any responsibility
for the pollution created from their supply chains. Is really up to the consumer to
change these toxic creations, simply by buying certified organic cotton blue jeans, or
denim made from certified American made jeans. The main problem is government
laws taking action to defend their land atnd water. By simply creating and
implementing regulations to control where and how the wastewater is going to be
dumped could completely change the path for present and future generations.
Commerce is not only hurting the low wage workers but also their health and the
consumers. Creating awareness of these local and global problems, letting people
know what really is going into their products because nothing drives the direction of
commerce like the consumer.







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References
Facts About Denim | Olah Inc.. (n.d.). Olah Inc RSS. Retrieved February 12, 2014, from
http://olahinc.com/denim_survival_guide/facts-about-denim/
Heterogeneous Catalyzed Oxidative Degradation of Indigo: A ... (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.nsti.org/procs/Nanotech2011v3/9/T9.137
Heterogeneous Catalyzed Oxidative Degradation of Indigo: A Theoretical and
Experimental Study. (n.d.). Heterogeneous Catalyzed Oxidative Degradation of Indigo:
A Theoretical and Experimental Study. Retrieved February 1, 2014, from
http://www.nsti.org/procs/Nanotech2011v3
Toxic Threads - Product Testing Results. (n.d.). Greenpeace International. Retrieved
February 1, 2014, from
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/toxics/water/detox/Tox
ic-Threads/
Tuckman, J. (2007, August 17). Distressed denim trend costs Mexican farmers the
earth. The Guardian. Retrieved January 23, 2014, from
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2
Bechtold, T., Turcanu, A., Campese, R., Maier, P., & Schrott, W. (2006). On-site
formation of hypochlorite for indigo oxidation Scale-up and full scale operation of
an electrolyser for denim bleach processes. Journal of Applied Electrochemistry,
36(3), 287-293.
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Gordon, B. (2011). American Denim: Blue Jeans and Their Multiple Layers of Meaning.
Textiles: the whole story : uses, meanings, significance (pp. 77-89). London: Thames &
Hudson.
Nigam, P., Armour, G., Banat, I., Singh, D., & Marchant, R. (2000). Physical removal of
textile dyes from effluents and solid-state fermentation of dye-adsorbed agricultural
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