Assessment of Carbon Footprint of Various Cotton Knitwear Production Processes in Bangladesh

Abstract

Carbon footprint is defined as the amount of greenhouse gases generated during the whole lifetime or within a specific boundary of a product. This study measured the average carbon footprint of some common cotton knitwear T-shirts, polo shirts, and fleece jackets during production using CCalC2 software. Energy and water consumption data were taken as the study's input, while direct and indirect emissions were not specified. The results show the amount of carbon dioxide emitted at different stages of knitwear production. Cotton processing and yarn spinning resulted in relatively high carbon dioxide emissions, while wet treatment gave similar results. Fleece jacket production gave high amounts of emitted carbon dioxide due to its complex fabric structure and high fabric weight, while T-shirts gave the lowest amount of the fabrics tested.