What is Bluesign®?
Güncelleme tarihi: 22 Kas 2021
It is one of the standards that helps the textile industry move towards its sustainability goals. It is a company established in Switzerland in 2000, in which the international testing firm SGS was a shareholder in 2008.
The Swiss-based organization, officially known as Bluesign Technologies AG, provides an independent audit of textile mills, examining production processes from raw material and energy inputs to water and air emission outputs.
Unlike other standards, it covers sustainability parameters such as environment and resource efficiency, product synthesis processes and life cycle, as well as consumer safety.
Bluesign is an emerging standard for environmental health and safety in textile production. Each ingredient is evaluated according to its ecotoxicological effect.
Bluesign lists the audit findings in order of concern and suggests ways to reduce consumption while recommending alternatives to harmful chemicals or processes where appropriate. Textile mills committed to verifiably adopt Bluesign's advice can become certified “System Partners” and attract the business of a wide variety of brands and retailers seeking greener resellers around the world.
Environmentally conscious consumers can feel safe when purchasing clothing with the Bluesign label, where they buy the most environmentally sensitive, socially conscious version of the jacket, shirt, sweater, pants, hat or gloves in question. Considering the pressure for greener products of all kinds, Bluesign has attracted considerable attention among some of the leading brands in the outdoor clothing and gear business over the past few years.
Thebluesign® SYSTEM
The textile and apparel industries and their related industries are characterized by a distributed and diverse global supply chain. Industries that increase the demand for resources and use of hazardous chemicals throughout the supply chain have a huge negative impact on the environment and society.
To counter these adverse effects bluesign® SYSTEM is a comprehensive, full package service solution for chemical suppliers, textile and coatings manufacturers, and brands.
This premium solution is a support mechanism for the entire supply chain, providing the tools needed to promote, adopt and implement safe chemical use and responsible practices in factories.
The application of the Bluesign® SYSTEM ensures occupational safety and the reduction of adverse environmental effects. These reductions potentially include reducing water use, reducing wastewater, reducing energy use, reducing overall chemical use, and eliminating hazardous substances through smarter chemistry and the application of the Best Available Technique (BAT).
This was made possible thanks to the Inflow Flow Management approach. This approach states that using BAT and eliminating hazardous chemicals from the start and along the supply chain will produce safe end products and safer work environments.
Company ratings that show sustainability performance and environmental key performance indicators (eKPIs) can be validated through the Bluesign data-driven system.
These data-driven metrics lead to increased value-based offerings by giving more connectivity and the opportunity to supply chain partners to present traceability and company developments to customers.
Bluesign envisions a responsible and sustainable textile and apparel manufacturing industry actively working to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG).
This vision creates a path for the industry to follow: The Blue Path. This path provides services and tools for companies throughout the supply chain, for which bluesign® SYSTEM is a holistic solution.
BLUESGN PRINCIPLES
This standard is based on five principles:
Resource efficiency
Consumer safety
Air emission
Water emission
Job health security
Resource efficiency
It aims at the highest quality and added value for your product, with the least resources and the lowest possible environmental impact.
Consumer safety
Consumer safety means not only that your textiles are of high quality and have no health risks, but also that you apply sustainability principles in your manufacturing process.
Air emission
Air emission must remain within tightly controlled limits throughout your production process. Using low emission components and improving your energy use also reduces your CO2 load.
Water emission
Water emission control aims to feed pure water back into the natural cycle, causing the least possible pollution to rivers, lakes and seas. You can achieve this by using ecologically harmless ingredients and improving your production and wastewater treatment processes.
Workplace Health and Safety
This is about the health and safety of your employees in the textile industry. This means that weak spots that exist locally can be identified and improved in compliance with the legislation.
What requirements should a Bluesign product meet?
A bluesign® PRODUCT is offered only by brands that have committed to the bluesign® SYSTEM. A sustainable product of this type consists of at least 90% bluesign® APPROVED textiles and 30% bluesign® APPROVED accessories. The goal is to achieve 100% BLUESIGN certified components. The entire product guarantees the highest assurance to the consumer.
Turkey Partner List
Veskim Kimyevi Madde It. Ihr. A.S. Turkey
Setas Kimya Sanayi A.S. Turkey
Resas Chemie Endustriyel Kimyasallar A.S. Turkey
KEMITEKS Kimya San. Ve Tic. A.S. Turkey
Eksoy Kimya Sanayi ve Ticaret AS Turkey
Denge Kimya ve Tekstil San. Tic. A.S. Turkey
Clearity Kimya Tekstil Turkey
Busan Kimya San. Tic. A.Ş. Turkey
Bersa Tekstil ve Kimya San. Ltd. STI. Turkey
Alfa Kimya Sanayi Ticaret AS Turkey
Ak-Kim Kimya Sanayi ve Tic. A.Ş. Turkey
Zeynar Mensucat Inc. & Trade Comp. Turkey
ISKO Turkey
If you want to look at the list of all contracted companies in the world;
https://www.bluesign.com/downloads/referenzliste/bluesign-reference-list-total.pdf
The information I have provided I would like to point out that Bluesign has the company's own words on its website.
It is a fact that certificates such as Bluesign certification are increasing. Although it is open to debate how sustainable these certificates make the textile industry, we can say that they force companies to meet some standards and this has become a marketing strategy. Now, retail companies want to buy products from manufacturers with certain standards because they have the commitments they offer to consumers. Companies want to show that they have such certificates in the sustainability reports they publish every year, which causes a new certificate to be issued constantly. You will understand the win-win system .. So who is the loser?
I want to ask you.
Do certified products give you confidence?
How sustainable is the textile industry in such an environment?
How will consumers understand which certificate is and how sustainable?
Or is this whole system itself "Greenwashing"?
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References;
´https://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/textile-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=59914
´https://www.bluesign.com/downloads/referenzliste/bluesign-reference-list-total.pdf