Huntsman Textile Effects, a leading provider of high quality dyes and chemicals to the textile industry, has given an overview of the current environmental issues facing the textile dyeing sector in Asia at the annual Planet Textiles conference in China.

The event was held on 22 October at Kerry Hotel, Shanghai New International Expo Center.

Sustainable production

Presented by Steve Gray, Global Vice President, Strategic Marketing and Planning, the session highlighted the key challenges facing the industry. One of the topics discussed was how the industry is currently tackling pollution while up keeping transparency throughout the manufacturing process.

Steve Gray focused on the significant role chemical companies such as Huntsman TE can play in this process and how its collaborative approaches with various stakeholders has yielded much success and help pioneered change for a sustainable textile industry.

Under pressure

The textile dyeing and finishing industry is one of heaviest global consumers of water and energy.

In the wake of intense pressure from NGOs and regulatory bodies on the toxic chemical pollution caused by textile manufacturers, the industry has been under the pressure to improve its environmental performance while straddling economic sustainability.

Improving environmental performance

Aiming at driving sustainability initiatives through its innovative product range, Huntsman TE has been actively collaborating with industry partners and engaging brands and retailers to help the textile supply chain go green by tackling the industry’s biggest sustainability challenges. These were identified by the company as carbon emissions, and the consumption and pollution of water.

This has resulted in the development of a list of dyes and chemicals, which do not intentionally contain any of the priority chemical groups under the Joint Roadmap: Towards Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC).

With this list, the textile supply chain is now said to be able to supply textiles to companies that have signed up to the ‘roadmap’, thereby helping to improve environmental performance and economic sustainability.

Innovative solutions

Huntsman TE has recently also developed and launched a series of products to help businesses turn sustainability challenges into business advantage.

This includes Phobotex, an advanced range of fluorine-free hydro polymers providing rain and stain management through the short-chained C6 technology, as well as the CO2 textile processing technology with Dyecoo, which is said to completely eliminate the use of water in the textile dyeing process.

For more information visit huntsman.com