Water Strategy
Water is predominantly used in our dyeing processes. Here it acts as the medium for applying dyes
to our yarns or is used for rinsing and washing yarns before and after dyeing. In the form of steam
it is also the medium used for heating water used in processing or for applying curing heat in some
coating processes.
Our long-term vision is of processes that are waterless, and our investment in 2018 in Twine, a start-up company developing yarn digital dyeing processes that use no water, was partly aimed at helping to deliver that long-term goal. We now have a Twine machine in our Turkish Innovation Centre and are doing joint development work with Twine on integrating this process into the thread supply chain.
In the meantime, our goal is to continue to reduce our use of water and hence to help safeguard this natural but limited resource. Our goal is to reduce our water usage intensity by 40% by 2022 against our 2018 baseline. This requires a further acceleration in water saving initiatives compared to the 28% saving that we achieved in the six years up to 2018. Up to the end of 2020 we have undertaken detailed water balance studies in all of our plants, including those without dyehouses but which have significant water use. These studies enable us to map the water into each process in the plant and then determine the opportunities for reducing water usage through process changes. Key to this is the comparison of actual consumption against a zero base requirement, which is pretty much what our 2022 target represents. All of our 49 manufacturing sites therefore now have a water management plan in place.
During 2020 the pandemic interrupted some of the projects we had planned in this area, but we continued to make some progress and this will accelerate in 2021. By 2020 our water usage had dropped by 6% against 2018, and we are confident that we will see strong progress on this in 2021.
40% Reduction in water
intensity (litres/kilo)
by 2022
Reducing water use requires
detailed monitoring of actual
consumption at all stages of
our operations. The bulk of
water use is in our dyeing
operations, where it is used
as the medium for applying
dyes to fibres and for pre- and
post-dyeing washing stages,
where necessary.
We also use
water as the principal source of
heating (in the form of steam)
in processes that require heat.
This includes autoclaving yarn
to stabilise it, for dyeing and
washing, and for the curing of
thread coatings. Water is also
used for humidification purposes
in spinning and twisting
operations (in order to improve
the behaviour of the fibres
during processing).
Finally, water
on our sites is also used for
domestic purposes. Identifying
opportunities for reducing
water consumption starts with
a water balance that allows
us to track the use of water
through all the processes on
site. This detailed analysis is best
done with multiple metering
points in order to get exact
volumes at all the key stages.
Once we have a detailed water
balance then we can see where
there is excess consumption
and which processes are open
to modification in order to
reduce water use.
Most chosen
solutions can be applied
across all of our units that
have the same processes, but
we also look out for unique
opportunities on a site. At the
same time as we are looking for
ways to reduce the water in use,
we are also looking for ways to
recycle more water so that we
can use it multiple times in our
processes and hence reduce
even further our need to use
fresh water.
A vital resource
Without water we cannot, today, make
thread. Water is predominantly used in
our dyeing processes. It either acts as the
medium for applying the dyes to our yarns
or is used for rinsing and washing yarns
before and after dyeing. In addition to
water use in our dyeing process, we use
steam in processing or for applying curing
heat in some coating processes.
We recognise the importance of water for
our business but also the value of water
for the communities in which we operate.
In some locations where we operate, water
is scarce, and so we have a responsibility to
reduce our own consumption and return
what we do not need to the environment
after suitable treatment. In some cases, this
includes recycling the water we extract and
reusing it in our manufacturing processes.
Taking a risk-based approach
To identify those water stressed locations, in 2020 we have undertaken an updated water stress analysis using the Aqueduct methodology, expanding our earlier studies to include sites that don’t have dyehouses so use less water. Overall, our review indicates that 33% of our water demand is in high or extremely high water stress areas (water stress measures the demand versus the availability in an area). This analysis reinforces the need to ensure that we continue our current strategy of reducing the water we use, recycling as much as we can and returning it to the environment in a state where it can be used by others. With this approach we can help to destress water in these locations. At the moment around 70% of our water recycling is in locations with a medium to extremely high water stress, and decisions on future recycling projects will be informed by stress levels.
The Aqueduct methodology also assesses
water depletion which can become an
issue as that will reduce availability (and
hence increase the stress). The analysis
indicates that only 1% of our demand is in
areas of high depletion.
A small number of our units rely on
ground water supply, and we have also
assessed the risk of water table decline for
these units. One unit, Faridabad in North
India, is in an area of high water table
decline but this is a unit where we have
long been aware of water supply issues
and we are already recycling up to 90%
of our water in order to minimise our need
for fresh water.
We will continue to update our water
stress review on a regular basis and reassess
the risks if need be.
Reducing our consumption
Our global goal is to reduce our water used per kilogram of thread produced by 40% by 2022 against our 2018 baseline. In 2020, we consumed 5.9 million cubic metres of water, which equates to 78 litres per kilogram of product. This is a 6% reduction compared to 2018 and highlights the ambitious nature of our target. Because of changes in scope in our business (the acquisition of Pharr HP), we have restated our 2018 baseline to include the water use and production from that business. Full historical data is shown in the data table at the back of the report.
By the end of 2020, we have undertaken detailed water balance studies at all of our dyehouses and other major sites, covering virtually all of our water use. We have also continued to delier training sessions with colleagues on how to undertake a water balance analysis and then develop savings plans. These studies are now delivering projects with savings opportunities.
Of the water we used, over 22% was recycled and reused (up from 20% in 2018). Of the remaining amount required 50% was sourced from the local environment and 50% was supplied from municipal sources.
Utilising new technology
We continually seek to improve the
efficiency and competitiveness of our
manufacturing sites, especially around
our dyeing processes. Technologies such
as reverse osmosis improve the quality of
water we use, giving us alternatives to
using water from municipal supply and/
or helping us achieve a high level of water
recovery from process effluent. In addition,
some of our sites have implemented Zero
Liquid Discharge (ZLD) systems, whereby
the remaining effluent is dried to make for
easier disposal of the residue.
Our sites at Ambas and Faridabad, in India, have ZLD systems, which has considerably reduced the water sourced externally as 65% and 75% respectively of the water used has been recycled. Similarly, in Sri Lanka, at our Horana site, 73% of water was recycled in 2019 with only 27% going to effluent.
At Coats Vietnam, we have successfully
reduced our water consumption by 42%
in the last five years, which is equivalent
to 310 million litres saved. This was
achieved by using a combination of
approaches; including a move away from
underground or hidden pipes susceptible
to undetected leaks; an investment on
modern dye machines which utilise lower
liquor volume (around 44% reduction
compared to a conventional dye machine);
the implementation of a dyehouse cooling
water recovery process and through the
harvesting and recycling of rainwater.
Eliminating the need for water
altogether
Our long-term vision is of dyeing processes that are waterless. To help promote the development of such processes, in 2018, we invested $5 million in Twine, a start-up company developing digital yarn dyeing that uses no water. Twine launched their first generation of sampling machines in June 2019, and we now have one unit that is being used for joint development work in our Turkish Innovation Centre.
Digital fabric dyeing has been around for
some years and is beginning to supply
substantial volumes across the textile
supply chain. However the challenges of
yarn dyeing are much greater for several
reasons. Firstly, the three dimensional
nature of yarn (which needs to be dyed on
all surfaces), is very different to the large
flat surfaces that are the substrate for
fabric dyeing. Secondly, the physical scale
of a yarn (which typically has a diameter
that is well below a millimetre), requires
very precise control of the flow of dyes
and very accurate application systems.
Finally, getting acceptable productivity,
and hence low processing costs, when
dyeing single yarns (where it might be
necessary to dye 10 or more kilometres
of yarn to produce a single kilogramme
of yarn requires high running speeds and
reliable and automated processes.
Twine have focussed on addressing all these issues, and have made substantial progress. With further joint development work underway we can envisage beginning to deploy this technology into our supply chain in 2022. We expect that as the technology matures it will not only benefit our processing, but will have a significant impact across many other parts of the textile industry. It is also worth noting that, while we are focussed on the water benefits here, digital dyeing will also reduce process energy use significantly and will eliminate the need for many chemicals in the dyeing process.
