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Cleaner products: South African T-shirts with fewer toxic chemicals
The first textile factory in South Africa has now been granted the EU Flower ecolabel. The Flower can now be displayed on certain of the enterprise’s textiles, among others a brightly coloured T-shirt. It is a symbol of the fact that developing countries can also manufacture environmentally sound products.
The Flower is one of the most visible results of a Danish Cooperation for Environment and Development – Danced – project that began in 1998. The goal of the project is to promote conversion to cleaner technology and production methods in South African industry. The project concentrates on three industrial branches: The textile industry, the fish processing industry and the electroplating industry.
The life cycle perspective dominates. For example, the focus in the textile industry is on both cultivation of the cotton and processing of the cotton in the factories. So far, 80% of the cotton growers and textile factories have participated in the project. Among other things, they have learned how to keep the fields free of pests without using large amounts of pesticides and to reduce the consumption of chemicals, water and electricity at the factories through the use of environment-friendly dyes and new technology. Due to the high cost of water etc., the enterprises have also achieved cost reductions. In two years time, the South Africans will take over the project themselves.
Further information: Karen Lundbo, Danced. Phone: +27 12 804 1462. E-mail: daeczi@iafrica.com
Read more about the Danced Cleaner Textile Production Project on the project homepage:http://www.nu.ac.za/dancedcleanerproduction/
and the homepage of the South African Cotton Industries branch organization:
http://www.cottonsa.org.za/environmental_activities.html
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