SANE Standard

Water Pollution

It is estimated that around 20% of industrial water pollution comes from textiles treatment or dyes and that 200,000 tons of dyes are lost to effluents every year. 

Another major source of water contamination is the use of fertilizers for cotton production, which heavily pollutes runoff waters and evaporation waters.

Additionally, every time we wash a synthetic garment (polyester, nylon, etc), about 1,900 individual microfibers are released into the water, making their way into our oceans. Scientists have discovered that small aquatic organisms ingest those microfibers. These are then eaten by small fish which are later eaten by bigger fish, introducing plastic into our food chain.