Soil & refuse
Soil protection is important in the textile and clothing industry, particularly when it comes to waste disposal, recycling and contamination. Apart from textile waste, the industry produces a number of other waste products (e.g. chemical waste) which must be disposed of in conformance with the law.
Recycling is important where expensive chemical substances can be processed in such a way that they can be used again. But textiles, too, can be recycled – for example, they may be turned into cleaning cloths for multiple re-use.
The subject of contamination mainly concerns companies in the textile industry in connection with the routine examination of manufacturing sites for the possible presence of harmful substances from earlier industrial activities. Such examinations are carried out throughout Switzerland.
The Swiss Textile Federation has taken measures to overcome contamination and waste disposal problems in the context of soil protection. Together with the leading textile-producing cantons (Aargau, Appenzell-Ausserrhoden, Bern, Glarus, St. Gallen, Thurgau and Zurich) the Federation has launched an inter-cantonal campaign for the identification of possibly contaminated sites in the textile industry according to the listings in the land register.