Wastewater from textile manufacturing is currently the focus of the Greenpeace Detox Campaign. Greenpeace has accused the textile industry (and thus also VAUDE) of being responsible for polluting China’s waters with dangerous chemicals.
There, toxic waste and toxic wastewater cause serious health problems in the local population. In addition, toxic substances spread throughout the planet via the global waterways.
Wastewater is an important environmental aspect for VAUDE because it is generated in many upstream processes required for the manufacturing of VAUDE products. In some cases, wastewater even has to be classified as potentially harmful to the environment and health.
In the VAUDE Greenpeace Detox Commitment, we have made a commitment to preventing any release of harmful chemicals into the environment.
To achieve this, we have decided on a whole package of measures:
- A binding Manufacturing Restricted Substance List (MRSL) which regulates strict limits or usage bans of critical substances within the entire production process as well as finished goods – (find it here)
- Testing all discharge of hazardous chemicals based on this MRSL and publishing these test results – (read more here)
- Close cooperation with suppliers and industry leaders, as well as knowledge transfer, capacity building and auditing of supply chain partners
In a pilot project VAUDE has conducted training courses on environmental and wastewater management with a number of suppliers of textile materials. The knowledge gained from this has been incorporated into our supplier management and vendor clubs. Read more here.
Most of our fabric suppliers work in accordance with the bluesign® System. For VAUDE, this is an important component of our Environmental Management System.
We know that we have an urgent need for action on this point, both with regard to creating data transparency and with regard to waste water management in the supply chain. We are pursuing two strategic approaches: the expansion of the bluesign® Standard, cooperation with the ZDHC and, with the Higg Index, creating a database to record all environmentally relevant data - see "bluesign®: the world's most stringent textile standard".
In addition, VAUDE has been a "Friend of ZDHC" since 2019, which means that we have taken on the MRSL of the ZDHC and perform wastewater testing in our deeper supply chain with wet processes in accordance with the ZDHC Wastewater Guidelines and upload them on the ZDHC platform. Read more here.
Our Vendor Club is a platform for training suppliers in the handling of wastewater. See "Suppliers as Partners".
Our production facility in Tettnang-Obereisenbach does not require process water and industrial wastewater is not produced. The only wastewater at this site comes from sanitary facilities and the laboratory where waterproofing tests are carried out. Read more here.
