Cleaner Production in Jeans Laundries in Northeast Brazil - Implementing Environmental and Resource Management - page 79

9 Cleaner Production in Jeans Laundries in
NortheastBrazil
Sören Noack
Brandenburg University of Technology (BTU), Cottbus, Germany
9.1 Introduction
Fast economic growth is often given higher importance than a more sustainable
development. The textile cluster around Caruaru in Northeast Brazil serves as an
example. For this rather poor region the textile industry is of high economic im-
portance. However, jeans production goes along with severe environmental im-
pacts. For years, a 'devil's deal' between authorities and entrepreneurs (Tendler
2002) fortified the situation and inhibited any improvements of working condi-
tions and environmental impacts. During the past years however, the situation has
started to change. While aspects of high water consumption and pollution have al-
ready received attention (Almeida 2005), the field of energy efficiency in jeans
laundries has been left aside. There is a huge potential to reduce the consumption
of firewood, which is in most cases of illegal origin, by several measures such as
improved insulation, reclamation of heat energy and solar heating.
This chapter presents the environmental impacts of the jeans industry, in the
case of 'jeans laundries', in Northeast Brazil and discusses possible solutions un-
der the given socio-economic constraints of this region. Special attention is given
to aspects of energy efficiency and use of renewable energies to reduce the emis-
sions of greenhouse gases and deforestation. Section 9.2 provides socio-economic
background information about the economic development and importance of the
textile industry for Northeast Brazil. Section 9.3 describes the associated environ-
mental impacts due to high water consumption and pollution in the local jeans
laundries. Also the applied treatment technology is briefly introduced. Section 9.4
highlights the potential methods of optimizing the energy consumption. First, fuel
costs for the use of wood and several alternatives are compared. Since the illegal
cut firewood is the cheapest option, the reduction of energy losses is an important
aspect. In this context, the three most promising opportunities to increase energy
efficiency are analyzed - proper insulation, heat reclamation and solar thermal
power. Section 9.5 discusses the future of the local jeans industry given the possi-
ble construction of an industrial area. The introduction of an adequate environ-
mental and quality management scheme may provide additional economic bene-
fits. The chapter ends with a summary and conclusions in Section 9.6 highlighting