Cotton life cycle assessment

Grace, P., Gane, M., Garcia, F., 2009. Life Cycle Assessment of a 100% Australian Cotton T-shirt. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. 

Murugesh, K., Selvadass, M., 2013. Life cycle assessment for the dyeing and finishing process of organic cotton knitted fabrics. Journal of Textile and Apparel, Technology and Management 8 (2), 7. 

Roos, S., Posner, S., Jonsson, C., Peters, G.M., 2015. Is unbleached cotton better than bleached Exploring the limits of life cycle assessment in the textile sector. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal. http //dx.doi.org/10.1177/0887302X15576404. 

Van der Velden, N.M., Patel, M.T., Vogtlander, J.G., 2014. LCA benchmarking study on textiles made of cotton, polyester, nylon, acryl, or elastane. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 19, 331—356. 

Yuan, Z.-W., Zhu, Y.-N., Shi, J.-K., Liu, X., Huang, L., 2012. Life-cycle assessment of continuous pad-dyeing technology for cotton fabrics. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 18 (3), 659—672. 

KaUiala, E.M., Nousiainen, P., 1999. Life cycle assessment, environmental profile of cotton and polyester-cotton fabrics. Autex Research Journal 1 (1), 8—20. 

Cotton Incorporated, 2011. Life Cycle Assessment of Cotton Fibre and Fabric Executive Summary, 15 pp. 

Life cycle assessment of cotton textiles and clothing... 

Executive Summary, 2012. The Life Cycle Inventory Life Cycle Assessment of Cotton Fibre Fabric — LCA Executive Summary. Cotton Incorporated and PE International. (Executive Summary, LCA for Baby Wet Wipes, EDANA). 

Cotton Inc, 2014. Life Cycle Assessment of Cotton Fiber Fabric. Full Report. Prepared for VISION 21. Carz, NC, United States of America. 

Cartwright, J., Cheng, J., et al., 2011. Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Industrial Laundering Life Cycle Assessment of Polyester/cotton Shirts (M.Sc. thesis). Bren School of Environmental Science Management, University of California. 

Cotton Incorporated, 2011. Life Cycle Assessment of Cotton Fibre and Fabric Executive Summary (15 Pages) and Brochure (4 Pages). Prepared for Vision 21 (A Project of the Cotton Foundation). 

In order to evaluate sustainability of products and processes, the life cycle assessment (LCA) concept is a method for industry to understand, manage and reduce the environmental, health and resource consumption impacts associated with processes, products and activities.Due to the well-known environmental impacts of cotton and its further chemical processing, LCA evaluations have been used to develop the sustainability of man-made fibres, as well. In the case of cellulosic fibres based on cellulose polymers produced by photosynthesis, biodegradability can be seen as a benefit to fit the criteria of sustainability. 

The life cycle inventory is a quantification of relevant energy and material inputs and environmental release data associated with the production of cotton fixrm cradle-to-gate (fiber) and manufacturing from gate-to-gate (fabric). The associated life cycle assessment models the environmental impact of representative cotton apparel from the field through to consumer care, use and disposal. 

Before examining the approaches to recycling textiles, it is important to place this discussion in the context of the product life cycle. The methodology of LCA is one approach to quantitatively assess the environmental advantages of recycling fibre. An LCA typically considers the energy, water and chemical impacts of a product system from cradle (raw materials) through to production, distribution, use by the consumer and disposal. Formal LCA follows ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards. It requires determination of the functional unit of the product or raw material in question to be assessed, for example T kg of cotton fibre , or one viscose blouse . Importantly, LCA is conducted under defined system boundaries. For example, the LCA may be... 

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