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:
- Full supply chain transparency (material suppliers and manufacturers) and close collaboration with suppliers and industry leaders, as well as transfer of expertise, training and auditing of our supply chain can be downloaded here
- A binding Manufacturing Restricted Substance List (M/RSL) which regulates strict limits or usage bans of critical substances within the entire production process as well as finished goods – (find it here)
- Complete elimination of particularly harmful chemicals in accordance with the precautionary principle and a hazard-based approach (including PFCs, read more here.
- Testing all discharge of hazardous chemicals based on this MRSL and publishing these test results – (read more here)
Wastewater management is a key theme in our supplier management system. The challenges lie in raising awareness in the supply chain and creating data transparency in order to derive concrete measures for improvement.
We are pursuing various strategic approaches in this regard: the expansion of the bluesign® standard, cooperation with the ZDHC and, via the Higg Index, the establishment of a database to record all environmentally relevant data.
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.
It is important to us that our supply chain is not left on their own for these challenging tasks. As part of our Vendor Clubs, suppliers receive regular training on dealing with 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.
