The ZDHC Foundation has expanded the scope of its work by issuing guidelines for the sustainable production of man-made cellulosic fibres.

It is the first time that ZDHC (Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals) has expanded its remit to include the environmental impact of fibre production.

The initial focus is on the viscose and modal fibre group. The new guidelines aim to give brands and man-made cellulosic fibre (MMCF) manufacturing facilities an aligned approach for emissions control.

They also offer advice on the recovery of sulphur compounds, part of the inputs, as well as by-products generated during the production process.

And the guidelines provide MMCF producers with unified criteria for measuring output indicators like wastewater, sludge, air emissions and other process-related parameters.

Scott Echols, director of ZDHC's Roadmap to Zero programme, said it was crucial to reduce the environmental impacts of fibre production for the textile and fasion global chain.

“The release of the ZDHC MMCF Guidelines is an important milestone. It represents ZDHC’s first guidelines focused on fibre manufacturing, addressing air emissions and for the first time, resource recovery in production. The ZDHC MMCF Guidelines are the result of a collaborative effort by our contributors,” he said.

Phil Townsend, technical lead for environmental sustainability at Marks and Spencer, commented: “This document gives fibre manufacturers essential guidance and helps to make tangible progress by providing targets to move forward and tackle emissions in a meaningful way."

Dr Siva Pariti, global audit manager of Sustainable Textile Solutions, said: “Through ZDHC, subject matter experts discussed possible solutions to drive change. The most enriching experience was having people on this task team who actually work in MMCF production, as the feasibility of the steps was core to our discussions and fully reflected in our work.”

Simone Seisl, consultant for fiber and materials with Textile Exchange, added: "The new ZDHC MMCF Guidelines will become a cornerstone of the sector and critical to shifting viscose suppliers towards clean production."

While Nicole Rycroft, founder and executive director of Canopy, noted: “ZDHC's MMCF Guidelines are a critical companion to Canopy’s Hot Button Ranking for all brands wanting to use MMCF, to meet their climate, biodiversity and chemical goals.

"We’re excited that our partnership with ZDHC makes it much easier for brands to assess MMCF impacts, in both sourcing and production."

ZDHC says it will provide further support to help brands, producers and other stakeholders implement the new guidelines in its complementary ZDHC MMCF Industry Implementation Guidelines which are due for release shortly.

Source: EcoTextile News