Wastewater Treatment: Discharge Cleaner Than When It Arrived
PLANET STORIES
HanesBrands not only believes in responsibility, we act on it. HanesBrands’ commitment to responsibility means we’ve worked for years to solve an industry issue. Wastewater discharge from textile manufacturers is a major problem, contributing to 20% of worldwide water pollution.
We’ve invested millions in designing, building and operating state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plants at our textile facilities in the Dominican Republic and El Salvador. These facilities are able to treat up to 2 million gallons per day – the equivalent of 3,300 Olympic-size swimming pools. What goes into those plants is water tainted with various dyes and finishing chemicals from the manufacturing process. What comes out meets or exceeds the most stringent water quality requirements, designed to help protect human health, marine ecosystems and the environment at large.
These facilities are able to treat up to 2 million gallons per day and over 2 billion gallons per year – the equivalent of 3,300 Olympic-size swimming pools.
Our systems treat 100% of the wastewater from our manufacturing facilities, following procedures outlined in our robust Global Environmental, Health and Safety System (GEHS). Lab managers and operators at each plant perform multiple tests daily to assure treatment efficacy and adherence to standards, while a network of wastewater experts across the company helps keep our treatment plants in peak operating order. To fulfil regulatory requirements and provide the data to enable ongoing improvements, we also maintain a meticulous system of monitoring, record-keeping and reporting.
Did you Know?
HanesBrands participated as a member of The Sustainability Consortium’s Wastewater Challenge Task Force, a collaboration between brands, retailers and NGOs with global supply chain and sustainability expertise. The mission: creating and maintaining the Wastewater 101 Toolbox, a resource hub designed to facilitate and incentivize wastewater treatment in the textile industry. By giving supplier textile plants access to information and training, and by building awareness of the long-term business and social value associated with proper wastewater treatment, we’re working toward a goal of 100% treatment across the apparel industry. We want everyone in the industry to take wastewater treatment as seriously as we do.
Learn more at https://wastewater.sustainabilityconsortium.org/
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