Toxic e-textiles and greener blue jeans

New York Times : Although the promise of “smart” textiles —clothing with electronics woven into the fabric—is exciting for those who want to stay plugged in yet hands free, ecologists are questioning their potential impact on the environment. The conductive yarns, thermochromic inks, and electronics found in such fabrics will add to the some 50 million tons of electronic waste already accumulating annually, they say. A study in the Journal of Industrial Ecology addresses the issue of the impacts of such e-textiles on recycling and disposal. The study’s authors found that although the designers, engineers, and policy makers involved in e-textile manufacturing acknowledged that it’s important to safely dispose of the waste, none seemed to have any plan for it. In fact, currently, some 50–80% of “recycled” electronics are illegally shipped from developed to developing countries, where laborers, often children, use hazardous materials and burning to recover trace amounts of valuable metals.On a greener note, in response to global water shortages, Levi Strauss and Co is working to reduce the amount of water used in producing its blue jeans. According to the company, about 919 gallons of water are used in the manufacture of one pair of jeans, which includes irrigating the cotton crop, sewing the jeans, and washing them at home. To address the issue, Levi Strauss is mounting a two-pronged campaign: To make better use of available water resources, the company is underwriting a nonprofit program that teaches farmers in India, Pakistan, and other major cotton-producing countries the latest irrigation and rainwater-capture techniques. And to conserve water, it has introduced a brand of stone-washed jeans smoothed with rocks but no water and urges customers to wash less and with cold water only.