Research on the Possibility to Apply Ecological Footprint as Environmental Performance Indicator for the Textile Industry

There is growing interest in ecological footprint analysis in aiding our understanding of societal demands on the biosphere. Moreover, attention is focused on new potential applications of the technique. Recently, its application to enterprises has been proposed. In the present study, an apparel plant was analysed. The overall purpose of this study was to develop a tool useful for evaluating the environmental impact evolution due to the performance of the plant, as well as for comparing the environmental performance of different manufacturing processes. Data collected were divided in three main categories: energy, resources and waste. The main contributor to the ecological footprint is the resources category, meaning that the changes in fashion will probably affect in the future the results of the indicator. A smaller contribution was the energy used in the manufacturing process, the selection of renewable energy sources being another possibility to reduce the footprint. In the category of wastes, the main contribution was that of urban wastes, which unfortunately cannot be recycled at the moment.