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Cotton and The Environment

Cotton- Our Environmental Friend... or Enemy?

For decades now we have been persuaded that natural cotton fabrics were the very best alternatives to synthetic fibres. Cotton was better for the consumer in a multitude of ways. Its organic properties made it more comfortable to wear in hot weather, and what could be more luxuriant than to be enveloped in soft, smooth, cotton sheets on balmy summer nights? A whole raft of advertising wafted the consumer away to a world of flower meadows, songbirds and flawless white wholesomeness.

Baby magazines are full of pure cotton products and we happily subscribe to the notion that if we want to be seen as a caring parent our baby will be wrapped, clothed, and washed in only the purest of products. This is a very natural emotion and one that thousands of new mums everyday are succumbing to. We are all very aware of the need to preserve the planet for future generations who are to inherit it after us, so we key- in to the fell-good factor that using a natural, renewable product can give. But perhaps we should be looking at alternatives to 'King Cotton'.

The statistics concerning the production of cotton can come as a bit of a shock, and it's not something most of us ever bother to explore too deeply. Cotton is beneficial to the user, and the producer. It provides employment for millions of otherwise impoverished people in the Far East and Asia, and United States and Australian exporters rely heavily on it for revenue. So on the surface it would seem to be a winner. But just have a look at some of these stats:

Cotton growing uses 10% of the world's pesticides and 25% of the world's insecticides. The main reason for this high percentage is that a crop can need up to 9 applications during the growing period. In some countries such as China up to 20 applications are required.

To turn raw cotton into material involves the use of over 8,000 different chemicals which the WHO has listed as being moderately to extremely hazardous to humans. No mention is made of the toxic effect on the non-invasive insects, and birds. It's disturbing to discover that the gas from one of the pesticides used on cotton plantations was responsible for the Bhopal factory explosion which claimed something in the region of 3,00 lives.

On large plantations such as those found in the USA, Australia, and SE Asia, huge amounts of water are required for irrigation. China alone uses 370 million cubic metres per year.

And then there are the energy costs. The electricity required to produce one tonne of cotton will use 2 ½ tonnes of oil.

Makes you think doesn't it?

And that's just to produce bales of white cotton. When the dyeing process begins the waste product from that will find its way into the environment via the waste water system where it will join the diluted formaldehyde that has been used in the finishing process.

So what's the alternative? Well for many years now work has been done by Pesticide Action network UK (PAN UK) and other organisations on producing organic cotton, using totally natural pest control. This work is being developed in Sub-Saharan Africa, and they are increasing production year on year but there's still along way to go before they can satisfy the market.

So until then? How about alternative fibres?

Mention the word 'hemp' and an image of pot-smoking hippies come to mind. Along with brown lentils, love-ins and Haight-Ashbury. But forget the starchy-stiff feel and the grunge colours of the nineteen sixties product. Hemp has shaken off it's home spun characteristics and over the last few years better production techniques have produced a more commercial, consumer- friendly product.

Hemp ( and its close cousin cannabis) has been around for centuries,in fact hemp cloth has been found in tombs that were around 10,000 years before Christianity, but it wasn't until 1993 that UK farmers were legally allowed to grow it. Which was strange, considering that there was a vital difference between cannabis and hemp, although the plants look almost identical. That difference is the chemical tetrahydrocannabinol, a hugely long word for the ingredient found in cannabis that sends the smoker off to the land of fairies. Hemp fields today are still routinely plundered by amateur 'potheads' who wonder later why their spliffs aren't having any noticeable effect.

Hemp plants are resistant to most of the pests that plague cotton production, so very little pesticide is used during growing, and the plant grows very quickly. But what other eco-friendly properties does it have? Well, for a start it's entirely biodegradable and extremely durable, so when it eventually does wear out and is consigned to the landfill site it will rot down to compost. It can be mixed with other natural fibres such as organic cotton, and silk to produce a soft, yet hard-wearing material. So sheets, diapers and clothing all last that bit longer, combining ecology for the benefit of the planet, with economy for the benefit of the consumer. As it is by nature a creamy white colour it requires very little bleaching, which in turn accounts for far less harmful by-products in the atmosphere. Hemp is also claimed to be a better insulator, more resistant to mould, and more absorbent than cotton. It is apparently very efficient at blocking the sun's ultraviolet rays, and as well as this built-in safety feature the dyed material is less likely to fade.

A relatively new contender for an eco-friendly replacement for cotton is bamboo. Like hemp it is naturally light- coloured, so it requires minimal bleaching, and it has all the insulating qualities of hemp combined with the softness of cotton. This natural softness contrasts with the stiffer qualities of hemp( although hemp manufacturers claim that their material softens with repeated washing and ironing). Bamboo, on the face of it would seem to be a 'miracle' product. It's is less expensive to buy than other materiel, it's quick drying and naturally crease-resistant. It's also claimed to be non-allergenic, particularly good news for people with skin allergies...but that depends on the manufacturing processes of course. The plant itself grows quicker than it's rivals, requires very little water,cleans the air by absorbing carbon dioxide (up to 12 tonnes per hectare) and can survive floods or drought.

There must be a catch somewhere. And there is. There is still much work to be done on safely turning bamboo into cloth. Most of the worlds bamboo is processed into fabric in China, and there are some points to be raised on the subject of the Social Accountability Code(SA 8000) which seeks to protect workers from exposure to toxic chemicals and the use of child labour. Though bamboo may have some environmental shortcomings it still has the advantage over cotton, with its attendant pesticides, or synthetic material like polyester which can discharge toxic gases into the atmosphere, not least of which is the old enemy - carbon dioxide.

Clearly the jury is still out on the environmental claims for bamboo but this is not to say it's all bad, as it still compares favourably with hemp, and promises to be an improvement on cotton growing.

Going green, and trying to cut down your personal carbon footprint can seem like walking through a minefield, so don't become too bogged down with conflicting advice. Read labels carefully and try to see through some of the hype. If you have made a conscious decision to 'green-up' your life you're halfway there already. At the moment the perfect green product doesn't exist so don't expect to perform your own eco-miracle. The most we can hope for is to not make the situation any worse.