2 6 \ 09.B'i" Shaw

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN THE WOOL TEXTILE INDUSTRY

Trevor Shaw

IWS Development Centre, Ilkley, West Yorkshire, LS29 8PB, England

SYNOPSIS

Environmental issues have assumed great importance throughout most of the world during the past few years. This is particularly so in Western Europe, where great changes in political and social attitudes have occurred, especially during the last 1 2 - 18 months. As a result, industry now has to comply with regulations governing effluents, occupational health and product safety which are of ever-increasing severity. with the environmental friendliness of the products they buy.

Emphasis in this paper is placed on what wool R & D must achieve in the future. issues which face the wool industry; the background to these issues is described, including legislative aspects; R & D strategies are proposed for addressing the problems which the wool textile industry needs to solve, and progress is reviewed. Finally, a series of secondary, but still important issues is discussed.

Consumers are increasingly concerned

The paper identifies four priority environmental

INTRODUCTION

During the past few years, concern with environmental issues and

associated matters, such as occupational health and consumer

product safety, has grown at ar: ever-increasing pace.

live in Western Europe or in North America will need no reminding

of this. In these countries, more than any other, the change in

social and political attitudes, and the rate at which it has

occurred, especially during the last 12 - 18 months, has been quite unprecedented.

Tinose who

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Only a short time ago, the so-called "greens" were widely regarded

as cranky, leftist and above all, impractical. Now, it is

estimated that about 50% of consumers in Western Europe make

purchasing decisions based on environmental criteria, 25% are consciously green, and about 10% feel strongly enough to vote

green. At the EEC elections in June 1989, 27 green members were elected to the European Parliament and there would have been

perhaps 12 or 15 more if UK (where the green vote was 14.5%) had

operated a proportional representation system (see Fig. 1). At the

general election in the Netherlands later in the year, the

government retained power, fighting the election on a green ticket.

All political parties, throughout Western Europe, are now expected to include a programme of environmental reforms in their plans.

1984 1989 - Percent of total vote

6 GB F D NL I Lux

Country

Fig. 1. The "Green" vote in the European elections, 1984 and 1989. (B = Belgium; GB - Great Britain; F = France; D = W. Germany; NL = Netherlands; I - Italy; Lux - Luxembourg). It must be said that the green activists, despite the initial scepticism of governments and the general public, have won the

battle for credibility.

consideration by industry, governments and the consumer before any

decision is made.

Green issues are now given careful

3 The media have been a major force in assisting the greens, though

probably often enough for the wrong reasons. Scaremongering has

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been an effective way of winning readers and viewers, and

prophecies of doom make good press. However, this irresponsible

presentation of environmental issues seems to have run its course; newspapers and television are now more likely to attempt a balanced

and logical story. To do otherwise is to risk losing credibility. Similarly, the so-called "green con" used by manufacturers to sell products on false or exaggerated claims of environmental

friendliness shows signs of becoming thoroughly discredited, and

will probably die out even before the official and scientifically-

based environmental labelling schemes presently proposed come into

widespread use, as they surely will.

ENVIRONMENTALISM AND THE WOOL INDUSTRY

It was in 1987 that IWS plans first referred to the growing importance of environmental issues. Early that year, a small study

group was set up to examine the possible consequences for wool and

to advise on R & D requirements arising from problems which the wool industry might face in the future.

environmental issues was not widely accepted at that time and the

need even for a survey such as this was questioned; in 1987, most people believed that environmentalism was a fad which would pass in

a year or two. The group continued its work, however, and reported

in June 1987. would face difficulties in future. These were:

The growing importance of

Four high priority areas were identified where wool

* the presence of pesticides (used for control of ectoparasites in sheep) in raw wool, and the downstream

consequences of their presence;

mothproofing agents in effluents from carpet manufacturing; * * AOX (absorbable organic halogen compounds) in the effluent

from shrink-resist processes;

* chromium in dyehouse effluent.

Major increases in R 6 D effort were recommended in all these areas, through the IWS R & D Coordination and Advisory Committee. (This Committee, which meets once each year, draws its membership

from 'the major research laboratories and the Wool Boards and

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Corporation in the Southern Hemisphere wool-exporting countries who

are members of IWS).

simple reason that the green movement had not progressed as far in

the Southern Hemisphere as it had in Western Europe, and it was

still very difficult for Australians and New Zealanders to perceive the strength of the green trend on the other side of the world.

The response was sceptical, for the very

These problems were resolved at an "Environmental Summit Meeting" held in January 1988, when a comprehensive R 6: D programme addressing environmental issues was agreed. Since then, the truth

of the study group's predictions has become plain to see, and the

allocation of resources to environmental projects in member

laboratories of the IWS R & D Committee has increased year by year (see Fig. 2 ) .

All RDC IWS - Percent of total

1

Fig. 2. member laboratories of the IWS R & D Committee. (IWS; CSIR, Fibre and Textile Programme; CSIRO, Division of Wool Technology, WRONZ)

Allocation of resources to environmental R & D projects in

A second way to measure the increased R & D interest and effort in

environmental areas is to examine the content of papers at this

Conference in comparison with those at the last Quinquennial

Conference in Tokyo in 1985. In Tokyo, the only environmental

issue which was specifically addressed was the long-standing

problem of disposal of scouring effluent. had two paragraphs on problems in mothproofing, but these problems

were not mentioned in any of the four papers on mothproofing.

Taylor's review paper1

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Sello's paper on the optimisation of chrome dyeing2 was more concerned with the properties of the dyed wool than with the

environmental impact of chromium residues in the exhausted dyebath,

although Sello and also Holt3 (in a paper on the dyeing of shrink-

resist wool) both mentioned the problem briefly. Aside from the

papers on scouring effluent, there are only 36 lines of text

discussing environmental issues in the 2014 pages of the

Proceedings of the Tokyo Conference.

At this Conference, the situation is quite different. This invited

paper is in itself an indication of the concern felt for environmental issues. It is immediately followed by five papers on

mothproofing, four of which directly address environmental

problems. There is also a poster paper dealing with the environmental aspects of mothproofing. Several papers on dyeing

are concerned with the environment, and the IWS Technical Managers'

papers will no doubt touch on the matter. In addition, there are

papers on such subjects as organic halogen compounds in wool

processing effluents, pentachlorophenol in carpets, the search for

a non-chlorinated solvent for the determination of extractable matter in wool, house dustmite, and wool dus't produced in

processing.

only 2% years ago, that is a highly satisfactory level of effort. For a subject area which first attracted attention

The remainder of this paper will deal in detail with the four

priority areas identified by the IWS environmental study group, and

will also briefly mention several other areas of concern.

PESTICIDES IN R A W WOOL

Pesticides are applied to sheep to prevent infestation by parasitic

insects and ticks. Without such treatment, the sheep will suffer

severely, and may even die. In former times, organochlorine

pesticides (OC's) were widely used for this purpose, because of

their cheapness and effectiveness.

growing countries banned the use of OCs many years ago (usually by

omitting them from approved lists), but pesticides such as lindane

(gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane) and camphechlor or toxaphen remained

The more enlightened wool-

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->

3

in use in several other countries. Even in countries where bans

had operated for many years, there was evidence of illegal use of

OCs, including dieldrin as well as lindane and camphechlor.

The main classes of pesticides now used on sheep are the organo- phosphates ( O P s ) and the synthetic pyrethroids (SPs). Both these

classes have lower mammalian toxicity and are less persistent than

the OCs, but their use is not free from problems and work is

urgently required to reduce the levels of OPs and SPs in wool at

shearing.

All of the pesticide types listed above are lipophilic. When they are applied to sheep, they become strongly associated with the wool

grease, which means they are almost totally removed from the fibre,

along with the grease, during the scouring process. From the wool product viewpoint, this is good, because it means there can be no

reasonable suspicion that the very small pesticide concentrations remaining in wool textiles could possibly be harmful to consumers.

However, it does bring problems for the scourer. Wool grease is a

valuable by-product of the scouring process and it is normally

recovered for sale. Centrifugal recovery is the most commonly used

method, but is capable of extracting only about 40% of the total

grease present in scour liquors. Acid cracking can recover about

90%, but produces a poorer quality grease, and is not widely used.

All this means that there may be problems in discharging scouring effluent to municipal sewer, which is the method of choice in some

countries (notably the UK) and the grease may be an unsuitable raw

material for the preparation of cosmetic and or pharmaceutical

grade lanolin.

introduced techniques for reducing total pesticide levels to 1 ppm or less, improvements are still required to meet the proposed

German specifications for baby-care products.

Although lanolin refiners have developed and

When the EEC lindane Directive4 came into effect in 1985, it was

found that rivers in West Yorkshire exceeded the environmental

quality standard (EQS) of 100 ng/L for lindane, as a direct result of the high concentration of wool scouring activity in the area.

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Because of these and other problems, the major wool producing

countries in the Southern Hemisphere have taken steps to ensure

that the wool they export is free from OC contamination.

countries introduced bans on the use of OCs for sheep treatments;

others already had bans, but it was necessary to guarantee their

effectiveness by initiating monitoring schemes to ensure that the

OC levels in exported greasy wools would not exceed permitted

limits.

claimed that wool from IWS member countries is OC-free, and the

levels of lindane in Yorkshire rivers have fallen until the

requirements of EEC legislation are now largely met (see Fig. 3).

Some

As a result of these and other measures, it can safely be

Lindane nglL 400 I

R.Calder at Methley

R.Aire at Fleet Weir 31

01 ' I 1985 1986 1987

Fig. 3 . Levels of lindane in Yorkshire rivers 1985-87. (EQS = EEC environmental quality standard).

It is expected that UK will introduce legislation restricting the

levels of OPs and SPs in surface waters in the not too distant future, and work is presently in hand to assess the threat to wool

scouring that this might pose. In the meantime, scourers in West Yorkshire are examining the possibilities of installing their own

effluent plant, rather than discharging directly to sewer.

Work is in progress on the optimisation of pesticide application to

sheep, with the aim of reducing the amounts of pesticides present

in wool at the time of shearing; on the specific biological

treatment of scouring effluents to remove pesticides5; on the

occupational hazards of handling pesticide-contaminated raw wool6;

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and on the removal of pesticides from lanolin.

will be reported at this Conference.

Much of this work

MOTHPROOFING

Proofing of wool and wool blends against insect attack has been

regarded as an essential part of the carpet manufacturing process

for many years, certainly since cheap and easily-applicable

mothproofing agents first became available in the late 1950s. Now,

the future of mothproofing is threatened by new regulations7, which

will severely restrict industrial discharges of mothproofing agents

in UK from January 1993. It is expected that other EEC countries

will follow UK in future. This is probably the most urgent

environmental issue facing the wool textile industry today. UK is the world’s largest producer of wool and wool blend carpets and

carpet yarns by a considerable margin; this sector of the industry

consumes about 4 5 million kg of fibre. Carpet industries in other

EEC countries, which are also threatened, use a further 52 million

kg of wool.

A further problem has been caused because environmental legislation

has enforced the withdrawal of the commercially important

chlorphenylid-based mothproofing agents Eulan WA New/U33 (FBY) and Mitin LP (CGY). This means that carpet manufacturers have no

economic alternative to the pyrethroid-based agents and pyrethroid

levels in effluents and rivers will therefore tend to increase.

Table I8 compares the present levels of mothproofing agents in the rivers draining the areas of UK where mothproofing activity is most highly concentrated with the EQS values (the maximum amounts which

will be permitted from 1993 onwards). Clearly, present

mothproofing practices will not allow compliance with the EQS.

This situation was anticipated about 2-3 years ago, and projects

were initiated to develop short, medium and long term solutions to

the problem, and thereby enable European carpet manufacturers to

continue to mothproof their production. The possibilities for

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Table I. Levels of Mothproofing Agent Active Ingredients in UK Rivers Compared with Environmental Quality Standards8.

Locat ion Mothproofing Agent Active Ingredient

Chlorphenylid Perme thrin Cyfluthrin

Kiddermins ter 120 River Stour

37 25

W. Yorkshire River Calder

77 61 4

EQS 50 10 1

pollution-free mothproofing can be divided into the three

categories listed below.

* New application methods, producing zero effluent or

incorporating economical effluent pre-treatment before

discharge to sewer9 * lo.

* New mothproofing agents with improved ecotoxicological profile (specifically with lower toxicity to aquatic life),

applicable by existing technologiesll 9 12.

* Entirely new principles of mothproofing, avoiding the use of

pesticides13.

Work in all these areas is in progress, and will be described at

this Conference, but the first possibility described above offers

the best chance of finding a solution before 1993.

ABSORBABLE ORGANIC HALOGEN (AOX)

The concept of AOX was initially developed in West Germany as a measure of the purity of drinking water. It was later applied to limit the levels of organohalogen compounds in industrial

effluents. At present, polluters have to pay a certain amount per

pollution unit to discharge effluent whose concentration or load of

AOX exceeds certain threshold levels14 (see Table 11) , but there are now proposals, which will almost certainly be adopted, to place

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an upper ceiling of 1 mg/L on discharge of AOX from 1992. A paper

at this Conference15 will describe the work which has been carried out to determine the sources of AOX within the wool textile

industry and it would be inappropriate to say more here.

it to say that the 1 mg/L ceiling limit is a serious matter for the wool textile industry and it is unlikely that continuous shrink-

resist processors will be able to comply.

Suffice

Table 11. AOX Legislation in West Germany14

Limits above which Pollution unit Cost of discharge a charge is made per pollution unit

100 microgram/L 2 kg AOX, measured 60 DM and 10 kg per year as chlorine

A high level of R & D effort is presently devoted to the development of shrink-resist processes for wool which do not employ

chlorine, and therefore do not generate AOX. Non-chlorine batch

processes, suitable for the treatment of knitted garments, yarns or

fabrics are already available, but there are no processes for the

continuous production of shrink-resist tops.

CHROMIUM IN DYEHOUSE EFFLUENT

About 70% of wool dyeing is currently carried out with the use of heavy metals, mainly chromium. Almost half of this production

employs the afterchrome process and the remainder uses metal

complex dyestuffs.

produce a heavily contaminated effluent unless one of the so-called low chrome effluent processes is used and careful control is

exercised.

IWS16 of the first low chrome process as long ago as 1976.

The afterchrome process in particular can

Recognition of this problem led to the development by

Again, a paper to be presented at this Conference17 addresses this

issue directly, and it would be inappropriate to say too much here.

The general situation with regard to legislation is that wool

dyehouses can comply at present, provided they use one of the

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several low-chrome effluent processes. The future situation is

less clear. It is almost certain that the severity of legislation governing chromium in industrial effluents will increase in future.

Indeed, there is a current proposal in EEC which may result in very

strict legislation18.

be able to comply with the limits specified in the EEC proposal,

even by using the best technology presently available.

meantime, it is essential that the severity of the problem which

the industry might face in the medium term is quantified, and that

work aimed at replacing chromium as a mordant is pursued in the sure knowledge that it will be needed in the longer term.

It is by no means sure that dyehouses will

In the

Afterchrome dyes are used predominantly for blacks and to a lesser

degree for navy blues. Much could be done to ease the situation if it were possible to replace chrome blacks and navies with

environmentally friendly alternatives capable of giving the same excellent fastness and richness of shade.

OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Dust and Noise

Dust and noise are occupational hazards in the wool textile

industry and there is no doubt that proper and adequate control

measures have to be exercised to protect the workforce. The

questions that arise are: (a) is presently available technology

capable of dealing with these hazards, and (b) should wool funds be expended on R & D in these areas, or is the work more appropriately left to the textile machinery industry on the grounds that it is

not fibre-specific? In the case of noise, it is probably safe to say that the textile industry and the machinery manufacturers will

deal with any problems that present or future legislation might

bring, but with dust, the situation is not quite so clear.

A preliminary survey by IWSI9 of dust control measures available to

industry has shown that existing technology can probably achieve

compliance with regulations in opening, carding, gilling, combing,

spinning, twisting and winding. Backwinding (hank to package) has

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'>

not yet been surveyed and this is known to be a problematic area.

However, a recent epidemiological study20 has indicated the possibility that there may be specific hazards associated with wool

dust, and these require further investigation.

Environmental Impact of Wool Production

Synthetic fibre manufacturers have begun to attack the "green"

reputation of natural fibres, claiming that the total environmental impact of natural fibre production and conversion to textile

products is greater than that for synthetic fibres. Until now, cotton has been the subject of the attacks, which quote the use of

pesticides and fertilisers, and the use of land which could

otherwise be put to food production, especially in third world

countries. The recent news of the environmental disaster caused in

the Aral Sea area of the USSR as a direct result of cotton

production has provided them with useful ammunition.

It will be necessary in future to prepare a defence for wool against such attack. We also use pesticides and fertilisers in

wool production, though not to the extent that they are used for

the production of cotton.

grazed on land that could be used for food crops, for the simple

reason that sheep are quite viable on poor pasture and in hilly

country.

Sheep for wool production are seldom

PCP and Other Toxic Substances in Carpets

There is much concern among consumers and consumer associations

regarding the presence of toxic and volatile substances in carpets.

These sources of toxic material are seldom associated with the pile

fibre used in the carpet but are almost invariably components of

the carpet backing. Isocyanates from polyurethane resins and 4 -

vinyl-1-cyclohexane, a by product of curing of butadiene

copolymers, in latices and foams are cases in point. The use of

biocides to protect backing materials from biological deterioration

is also common.

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A paper to be given at this Conference2I will describe a case of

this sort involving the finding by a West German consumer

organisation of the biocide pentachlorophenol (PCP) in a wool

carpet, PCP is banned for all indoor uses in West Germany22.

Although the presence of PCP in wool carpets is in no way

associated with their wool pile, IWS decided that action should be

taken to eliminate the possibility of recurrence and has instituted

a monitoring scheme to ensure that Woolmark carpets are PCP-free,

Dioxins in Chlorine-Treated Wool Products

The presence of polychlorinated dioxins and furans in chlorine-

bleached wood-pulp products - disposable nappies, tampons, toilet paper, tea bags, coffee filters, etc. - has been raised as an issue by consumer groups in several European countries. European

manufacturers of such products are now offering unbleached or

peroxide-bleached alternative products.

The implications for chlorine-treated wool products were obvious,

and tests were commissioned to determine dioxin levels in untreated

wool, chlorine/Hercosett wool and chlorine-treated wool. The

concentration of total dioxins and furans found in the chlorine-

treated sample, was 0.117 parts per trillion. No trace was

detected on either the untreated top or the chlorineflercosett-

treated top. The findings were reassuring and it was shown, in

fact, that dioxin levels in chlorine-treated wool are about the

same level as those in unbleached cellulose.

Dus tmi te

House dustmites are a cause of allergic conditions such as asthma.

They exist almost universally and feed on a diet of dead human skin flakes, which form a major component of house dust. Because the

keratin of wool fibres is chemically very similar to the substance

of skin flakes, it has often been alleged that house dustmites can

live on wool. This is totally untrue;

for wool textiles over other fibres23.

treatments are discussed in a paper at

dustmites show no preference

Dustmite repellent

this C~nference~~.

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Nonylphenol Ethylene Oxide Surfactants

. -1

The German Association of Textile Auxiliary, Tanning Agent and

Detergent Manufacturers (TeGeWa) made a voluntary decision to cease

production of detergents and surfactants based on nonylphenol

ethylene oxide condensates from 1 January 1989 and to cease production of auxiliaries containing these surfactants as

components from 1 January 1992.

Nonylphenol ethylene oxide condensates are widely used for wool scouring but they have been under pressure for some time because of

their lack of biodegradability. Aliphatic alcohol analogues, which

are biodegradable are available as alternatives, but tend to be

less effective. A systematic study of alcohol ethoxylates is

required to determine the most effective formulations for scouring

raw wool, wool carpet yarns, piece goods and knitwear.

CONCLUSIONS

Environmental issues are of great importance in the wool industry today, and are likely to become even more important in the future.

Environmentalism is not a passing fad and the environmental impact

of all decisions and changes must nowadays be considered by governments and industry alike.

Four priority areas, where environmental problems facing the wool

industry are greatest, were identified in an IWS study carried out some 2h years ago. Since then, projects have been initiated in a l l

these areas, and the member laboratories of the IWS R & D Committee

are currently expending almost 20% of their R & D resources on work which addresses these issues. Progress towards solution of some of

the problems is summarised in this paper and will be described more

fully in other papers to be presented at this Conference.

There are other areas of secondary importance and urgency where

work is also in progress, or is required in future. These areas

also are summarised here.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author would like to thank many colleagues in IWS and elsewhere

who have helped in the preparation of this paper, particularly

those who have allowed access to their papers before publication.

REFERENCES

1. D.S.Taylor, Proc. 7th Int. Wool Text. Res. Conf.

2. S.B.Sello, Proc. 7th Int. Wool Text. Res. Conf.

3 . R.R.D.Holt, Proc. 7th Int. Wool Text. Res. Conf.

4. European Commission (1984) 84/491/EEC.

5. C.A.Michelson, R.Cord-Ruwisch, G.C.Smith and B.0 8th Int. Wool Text. Res. Conf. (1990).

(1985) 1, 27. 1985) 1, 109. (1985) v , 184.

Bateup, Proc.

6. I.M.Russel1, Proc. 8th Int. Wool Text. Res. Conf. (1990). 7. UK Department of the Environment (1989) Circular No. 7/89.

8. T.Shaw and D.Allanach, TIFCON '89, The Textile Institute,

9. D.Al,lanach, Proc. 8th Int. Wool Text. Res. Conf. (1990).

10. P.E.Ingham and C.K.Rowan, Proc. 8th Int. Wool Text. Res. Conf.

11. J.Haas, Proc. 8th Int. Wool Text. Res. Conf. (1990). 12. I.M.Russel1, Proc. 8th Int. Wool Text. Res. Conf. (1990). 1 3 . R.I.Logan, D.E.Rivett, C.P.Robinson and L.G.Sparrow, Proc. 8th

14. Abwasserabgabengesetz (1987) BGB1. I S.880, Anlage A zu $ 3 .

15. B.M.Miiller, R.F.Augustin, J.FOhles and H.HOcker, Proc. 8th Int.

Manchester (1989), Paper No. 4.

(1990) .

Int. Wool Text. Res. Conf. (1990).

Wool Text. Res. Conf. (1990). 16. L.Benisek, Int. Dyer (1976) 156, 600. 1

17. P.A.Duffield, Proc. 8th Int. Wool Text. Res. Conf. (1990). 18. European Commission (1985) COM (85) 733 final. 19. C.E.Gore, private communication.

20. R.G.Love, K.Donaldson, R.T.Cullen, T.A.Smith, M.Muirhead, H.P.R.Collins and C.A.Soutar, Institute of Occupational Medicine, Edinburgh (1988) Report No. TM/88/16.

21. J.M.Wimbush, Proc. 8th Int. Wool Text. Res. Conf. (1990). 22. Gefahrstoffverordnung (1988) Anhang 111.

23. H.Klingenberger and J.H.Elixmann, Proc. 8th Int. Wool Text.

24. D.Allanach, L.Benisek, W.Bourn and M.A.Rushforth, Proc. 8th

Res. Conf. (1990).

Int. Wool Text. Res. Conf. (1990).

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