Chemicals

Recent investigations have revealed alarming levels of harmful chemicals in ultra-fast fashion items as retailers like Shein, Temu and AliExpress surge in popularity in Australia and across the globe.

Innovations from five startups in the fields of sustainable chemistry and textiles has set them on course to bag the €25,000 fifth ISC3 Innovation Challenge.

Textiles are one of the biggest sources of PFAS pollution in Europe though their use in most types of textiles is not a technical necessity, says a briefing by the European Environment Agency as it warns that PFAS in textiles can be a barrier to their longer use, reuse and recyclability, negatively influencing the sector’s shift to a more circular economy.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have come up with new filtration membranes based on natural silk and cellulose that can remove contaminants, including ‘forever chemicals’ and heavy metals.

ZDHC has released the first edition of its Air Emissions Guidelines which will aim to sensitise the industry, allowing suppliers to establish their baselines and understand air emission requirements as of now rather than testing.

US researchers have discovered a bacteria that can destroy certain kinds of PFAS or forever chemicals linked to cancer and other human health maladies.

An investigation of different PFAS (perfluoroalkyl substances) – chemicals which do not break down in nature – has given an insight into the significance of the dermal route as pathway of exposure to a wide range of forever chemicals.

Fifteen industry associations representing the apparel, footwear and packaging sectors have called on EU legislators for improvement of market surveillance to ensure that imported products enter the EU market only if they are fully compliant with chemical legislation.

A global manufacturing centre of the fast fashion sector, Bangladesh, with no specific regulations on PFAS, has high levels of toxic PFAS chemicals in its surface and tap water samples, collected from industrial areas that are centres of the textiles industry throughout and around Dhaka.

The ZDHC Foundation has come up with a Commodity Chemicals Guide V1.0 and expects brands to urge their suppliers to embed these best practices to ensure a holistic approach to sustainable commodity chemical management within their facilities.