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Eco-impact portal for textiles launched

By | June 4, 2012, 4:29 AM PDT

What environmental impacts do textile products have? This portal can be used to find out.

Intertek recently announced the launch of the “Instant LCA Textile Web Portal“, an online tool that can be used by the textiles industry to measure and anticipate the environmental impacts their products may have.

The parameters are based on sets of defined scenarios — all centered around the concept of eco-design.

Based on questions and feedback from leaders in the textile industry, the subscription-based portal is aimed at giving quick and reliable feedback for those manufacturing textile and apparel products so that if they are concerned with sustainability and environmental impact, they have the opportunity to make decisions early on in product design.

Once a user signs in and input basic information about a product, pre-defined economic factors come into play to offer ‘before and after’ scenarios during the anticipated product design.

Environmental impacts that come into play include carbon emission hotspots, water and energy consumption, and recommendations on how to minimize this. An ‘eco profile’ is then produced including suggestions and graphical data.

For manufacturers or small businesses who don’t usually have access to such information, it can be used to understand not only just what the environmental impact of their products has –but also, if you understand just how much energy you’re putting into the creation of your products, perhaps you can also figure out where you can cut back, and put a bit more back into the profit margins.

For more information, view the demo below:

Image credit: Intertek

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Charlie Osborne

About Charlie Osborne

Charlie Osborne is a contributing editor for SmartPlanet.

Charlie Osborne

Charlie Osborne

Contributing Editor

Charlie Osborne is a freelance journalist and graphic designer based in London. In addition to SmartPlanet, she also writes the iGeneration column for business technology website ZDNet. She holds degrees in medical anthropology from the University of Kent.

Follow her on Twitter.

Charlie Osborne

Charlie Osborne

Charlie Osborne does not have financial holdings that would influence how or what she covers.

She writes for SmartPlanet and is not an employee of CBS.

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