Low-Impact Fiber-Reactive Dyes

Low-Impact Fiber-Reactive Dyes The sustainability of our environment is crucial in saving the livelihood of the people and the planet. Since we are all interdependent, we will all have to do our part in sustaining our environment for the future. We should always be questioning and doing more about it rather than just talking or ignoring the facts. Most of us do not realize the excessive use of resources we have taken advantage of over the years. Generations past have exploited our planet which has resulted much to the endangered state it is in today. The resources on Earth are finite and they will become extinct whenever the maximum limits are reached. Moreover, not only are we using natural resources to benefit our own needs; after we use them, we often return them back to the earth under worse conditions, in turn progressively threatening the environment.
Personally, being a part of the fashion program, I have learned that the textile industry is one of the largest contributors to the negative impacts on the environment. Part of it is the processes of textile dyeing. According to Green Choices, “Dyeing alone can account for most of the water used in producing a garment; unfixed dye then often washes out of garments, and can end up coloring the rivers, as treatment plants fail to remove them from the water. Dye fixatives – often heavy metals – also end up in sewers and then rivers” (Environmental Impacts). Conventional dyeing leaves one of the biggest water footprints on the planet. It causes a huge problem in terms of water use and pollution, not to mention the risks of human health. Usually, toxic chemicals (including dioxin, toxic heavy metals, formaldehyde, etc.) are contained within the dye fixative that is used to bond the dye color to the fabric. The last stage of the dyeing process is to remove the excess dye color from the fabric. It requires an enormous amount of water equivalent the weight of the fabric to actually flush out all of the toxic