Solutions to reduce the environmental pressure exerted by technical textiles: a review

Abstract

This paper highlights the fact that the technical textile industry plays a significant role in the textile and apparel industry and the technical textile subsector is one of the most dynamic, accounting for an increasing share of EU textile output. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the production of technical textiles in the EU, which in turn leads to an increase in the environmental impact generated by the production and consumption of these products. The entire process of producing technical textile items creates several forms of pollution in the air, water, and soil, as well as noise and visual pollution and contributes significantly to global warming. At the same time, considerable volumes of textile waste are created. The reduction of the environmental impact of technical textiles should be considered throughout their life cycle and after their exit from use. In specialized literature, numerous solutions are presented that as viable for clothing but are only partially transferable to technical textiles. This paper provides a review of these solutions, highlighting the successfully applied ones in the case of technical textiles.