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Advancing life cycle sustainability of textiles through technological innovations
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A systematic review of the textile industry's full life cycle examined technological innovations aimed at reducing microplastic and chemical pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and water consumption against Sustainable Development Goal benchmarks. Textiles are among the largest sources of microplastic pollution entering waterways through laundry effluent, making industry-wide technological transformation essential for reducing human and environmental exposure to synthetic fiber contamination.
Throughout their life cycle, textiles produce 5–10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and consume the second-largest amount of the world’s water with polluting microplastics and chemical agents released to waterways. Here we examine the state-of-the-art technology developments meant to solve these problems in a cradle-to-grave fashion. We analyse their impacts with respect to the Sustainable Development Goals in the United Nations Agenda 2030, particularly those concerning the deployment of natural resources, energy and environmental impacts. We follow a systematic analytical framework that identifies and elucidates impactful technologies. We further discuss future directions along which the green transformation of textiles could be accelerated. The textile industry is energy intensive and releases huge amounts of pollutants to the environment. Here the authors take a life cycle approach to examine the technological progress made to improve the sustainability of each stage and propose the future directions.
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