Cotton Not Reaching Sustainability Standards

Pause for a moment and think about something you take for granted: cotton. It's one of the most commonly used and versatile textiles, cropping up in everyday products from T-shirts to bank notes. But conventional production can have serious environmental and social impacts, from excessive water and pesticide use to poor labour conditions.

So news that the companies using the most cotton globally, from apparel brands and supermarkets to furniture manufacturers and household stores, are failing to deliver on cotton sustainability should be of major concern.

In an independent cotton sustainability ranking released earlier this week by Pesticide Action Network (PAN) UK, Solidaridad and WWF, just eight out of 37 companies make it out of the red zone.

http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/commentators/2987779/what_price_cotton_too_high_when_sustainability_standards_are_not_being_met.html

Bill Denney

#solar