LCA Based Water Footprint Assessment for a White Shirt

Sammanfattning: The white shirt is widely chosen attire by the people for its comfort and aesthetics. With rising population growth and demand for clothing, the production of white cotton shirts will be increased. The production of the white cotton shirt has various environmental impacts and also leads to water scarcity issues. Awareness must be increased with the brands, organisations and consumer about the water scarcity issues. With the help of water footprint analysis it is possible to calculate the water impacts in the supply chain of the product. It is also equally important to calculate the water footprint of the entire LCA of shirt as the use phase plays a prominent role.  The thesis is conducted to understand the water footprint and also assess the water performance for a white cotton shirt. The main purpose of the study is as follows: To find the water footprint impacts for the lifecycle of a white shirt produced and sold  To find the major water hotspots in Textile supply chain while producing a Shirt  A LCA based water footprint assessment is carried out for white shirt. A water scarcity indicator (WSI) is used to calculate the water impacts involved in the lifecycle of the shirt. The thesis is conducted such that there are two cases, namely, case 1 and case 2. Case 1 includes cotton cultivation, fabric manufacturing, distribution and retail, use phase and waste disposal. Case 2 includes fabric manufacturing, distribution and retail, use phase and coproduct in the form of a shirt. In these cases avoided burden approach with allocation method is used to conduct the study. The major WSI hotspots in LCA of the white shirt are cotton cultivation and washing, drying and finishing laundry(in use phase).  A sensitivity analysis is carried out from the results of the thesis, majorly focusing on the identified hotspots and sensitive parts. The WSI impacts on sourcing organic cotton and reducing the wash cycle (in use phase) were identified. From the sensitivity analysis, it was clear that sourcing organic cotton by the company and reducing the wash cycles by the consumer tremendously reduced the WSI and water scarcity issues. Sensitivity analysis also showed that more the shirt is avoided, more benefits is considered. Further research and recommendation are stated based on the result and analysis.