Cradle-to-grave environmental impact assessment of silver enabled t-shirts: Do nano-specific impacts exceed non nano-specific emissions?

Use of life cycle assessment as a tool to evaluate the environmental impacts of textile effluents: a systematic review

The textile industry is known for its large consumption of water, energy, and chemical products, making it one of the most environmentally impactful activities. To measure these environmental impacts, life cycle analysis (LCA) is a powerful tool that considers the entire process, from the extraction of raw materials to the finalization of textile products. In this context, this work aimed to present a systematic study on the use of the LCA methodology in the environmental assessment of effluents from the textile industry. The survey for data was carried out using the Scopus and Web of Science databases, and the PRISMA method was utilized for organizing and selecting of articles. During the meta-analysis phase bibliometric and specific data were extracted from selected publications. For the bibliometric analysis, a quali-quantitative approach was adopted, and the VOSviewer software was employed. The review encompasses a total of 29 articles, which were published between 1996 and 2023.The majority of the reviewed articles have shown the use of the LCA as a supportive tool for optimization focusing on sustainability, comparing the environmental, economic, and technical aspects through different approaches. The findings revel that China has the highest number of authors among the selected articles, while researchers from France and Italy had the highest number of international collaborations. The ReCiPe and CML methods were the most frequently used for evaluating life cycle inventories, with global warming, terrestrial acidification, ecotoxicity, and ozone depletion being the main impact categories. The use of activated carbon in textile effluents treatment has shown to be promising since it is environmentally friendly.

Life cycle assessment to tackle the take-make-waste paradigm in the textiles production

Under the environmental perspective, textiles represent the fourth highest pressure commodity worldwide. In Europe, it is estimated that over 95 Mt of textile waste are generated along the entire supply chain, with still high percentages of textiles addressed to landfill or incineration. The present research, through a systematic literature review on textiles production and consumption, investigates their environmental concerns assessed through the application of the life cycle assessment. Considering the importance of identifying the products' life cycle hotspots on which actions are needed to reduce the overall impact, the manuscript focuses on the environmental performance related to the cradle-to-grave phases of textile products differentiated by type, composition, and intended use. It results that the production and use phases are those responsible for the greatest share of negative impacts, while the end-of-life generally has a small contribution. Distribution and consumption phases are less investigated, and considering the emerging consumption patterns (e.g., sharing and renting platforms), it seems essential to collect data. Circular practices can bring benefits under the environmental perspective, but in-depth studies are still required to estimate the shift of impacts from one phase of the life cycle to another. Overall, there is a paucity of studies comparing the use of different fibers, ownership models, manufacturing and disposal processes for the same functional unit, or data that would be necessary for low-impact design. The topic is still under-researched among academics and practitioners of the textile industry.