china to close half of their dye houses

This past Monday we wrote about China’s plans to close over 2,000 factories that the government deems either too polluting, or energy intensive. On Wednesday, Ecotextile News reported that even more textile facilities are closing.

In the southeast province of Shaoxing, one of China’s important textile hubs, government officials have ordered the number of dyeing houses be cut in half. Production of dyed goods will be reduced to roughly 10 billion meters this year, from 15.6 billion.

The focus on this region is due to their disproportionately high energy use and extrordinarly high chemical oxygen demand (COD) discharge compared to textile factories elsewhere in China. COD is a major case of water pollution.

Already 600 facilities belonging to about 20 companies have been closed because they were either operating illegally, or did not meet the environmental and energy standards.

China, it seems, has taken a very strict line against some polluting and energy intensive industries. The textile industry being both energy intensive, and highly polluting is consequently suffering many shutdowns.

We are pleased to see that the talk of shutting polluting facilities was not rhetoric on the part of the Chinese. It is vitally important to stem the tide of industrial pollution, and what better way to start than closing dye houses that used over 200 million tons of water last year to dye clothing.