Assessing the Environmental Profit and Loss of Cotton T-shirts

Wastewater and pollutants emitted from cotton fabric production have generated several impacts on the ecosystem and human health. The Environmental Profit and Loss (EP&L) methodology was proposed to assess the environmental performance of a business by converting various environmental impacts into social marginal cost (SMC). This study applied the EP&L method to calculate the SMC of 1,000 kg of knit cotton T-shirts from the knityarn production to the end-of-life stage. The results show that the highest SMC was that of greenhouse gas emissions, followed by water pollution and water use which were $40.2, $28.3, and $0.04, respectively. In terms of production processes, the SMC of batch dyeing was the highest, and compaction was the stage with the least SMC. Through analysis of results, the SMC of cotton T-shirt was found to be closely related to the production activities of enterprises and the use of consumers. Findings of this study are of practical importance and can be used as a reference for green production of cotton products.