Assessing environmental impact of textile supply chain using life cycle assessment methodology

The environmental impact of textile supply chain of selected cotton, wool and polyester apparels consumed in Australia was accessed in this study using life cycle assessment methodology. The environmental impact category, climate change was used for this assessment. Climate change is related to the emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and the reference unit of climate change impact category is kg CO2 equivalent. The environmental impact of these apparels was then scaled up based on their total consumption in Australia in 2015. The results highlight the differences in environmental impact between the three apparels. This study demonstrates that the main contributor to climate change is the consumer use stage for cotton and polyester apparel whereas wool apparel production process contributes more impact than consumer use stage. Energy use is the main factor of environmental impact. Sensitivity analysis was carried out based on the different parameters used to develop baseline model, such as change of transport from airfreight to sea freight; change of transport distance, change of consumer laundering behaviour. Around 10% CO(2)equivalent emission can be reduced from base case by reducing washing machine energy up to 40%. A high efficient washing machineandfull load machine wash can save energyand reduce carbonemission.