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Trying to Make White T-Shirts Environmentally Friendly (Because They Aren't)

By Christie Nicholson - June 4, 2014

in Materials

Think that pure white, organic cotton tee shirt is environmentally friendly? Hm, most likely not. People might jump to the bleaching chemicals and yes, those are toxic and can be polluting. But another problem is the huge amounts of energy required to bleach out the natural color of cotton. But a new study, published this week in the Journal of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Resarch, has a solution.

Currently the cotton industry requires bleaching the natural cotton fiber with hydrogen peroxide at extremely high temperatures. We've grown to love bright whites but this process compromises the quality of the cotton material. And when we realize that there are 7.3 billion pounds of cotton produced in just the U.S. this process uses too much energy for it to be sustainable. Scientists focused on lowering the required high temperatures by using a compound that can bring the bleaching temp down to 140°C from 200°C. Their hope is that the 60° drop will result in a process that needs less than half the energy needed in the commercial technique used today. Additionally it reduces the wastewater. And as an added bonus, the resulting fiber is thicker and in better shape.

So if you are looking for a pretty dramatic improvement in energy used during a bleaching process check out their study here. But on the global scale we still need to deal with the amounts of water required to grow cotton in the first place. According to the World Wildlife Fund it takes 5,000 gallons of water to grow enough cotton to make one tee shirt and a pair of jeans. We still need a solution for that.

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C

10 years ago

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I'm not sure what you are referring to specifically Tom.
But water in 1st world countries is definitely polluted. I believe the states use a pesticide which is banned everywhere else in the world. Which goes into ground water. Among other things.

Water is the most essential resource. States in the US have been for years already been in political arguments with each other about ground water access. We are running out. PS desalination plants aren't a viable solutions that's just a band aid for our unsustainable practices.
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Tom Mc

10 years ago

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I hate to burst your bubble but water is conserved on the earth. It doesn't disappear after it's "used" but it becomes usable again (assuming it isn't polluted, which in modern 1st world countries - it isn't).

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