Microfibre Consortium issues call to action ahead of guidelines
27/04/2022
As part of a ‘positioning statement’, TMC commented that all businesses along the footwear and apparel value chain have a responsibility to adhere to aligned cross-industry guidelines, and that equal priority will be placed on both synthetic and natural fibres.
It is calling on businesses that operate in the textile sector to support the development and roll out of its upcoming manufacturing guidelines.
The initial focus should be to formalise an approach to the on-site filtration of fibre fragmentation from wastewater generated during textile manufacturing.
‘Control of Microfibres in Wastewater’ is the result of a two-year development process led by TMC’s manufacturing task team, involving partners from across the industry.
The scope includes industrial wastewater discharge produced within the operations of textile, apparel and footwear suppliers with wet processing facilities. As understanding improves, TMC will work with the industry to revise the guidelines.
The implementation of wastewater management at a facility level is a complementary action to the root cause mitigation that can be undertaken at the textile design and development level, all intended to prevent loss from occurring.
Sophie Mather, executive director of TMC, said: “To achieve substantive, long-term change in the industry we need a critical mass of action across the supply chain.
“Control of Microfibres in Wastewater can be a key step towards securing that, but only if companies are prepared to commit to the manufacturing guidelines within the document.
“We’ve issued our positioning statement now to encourage organisations to follow our lead, get in touch, and help us to keep scaling up the work of the textile industry in addressing the issues of fibre fragmentation at key stages of the product lifecycle.”
Control of Microfibres in Wastewater will initially be available to signatories of the Microfibre 2030 Commitment from 6 May.
Photo by Akram Huseyn on Unsplash.
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