Page 390 - Solid Waste Analysis and Minimization a Systems Approach

368 APPAREL- AND FABRIC-MANUFACTURING APPLICATIONS

180000 18

Both divisions continued their efforts to optimize
160000 16 manufacturing and recycling processes in the year
under review. The proportion of recyclable waste
was again increased in 2007. The total volume of
140000 14
waste products increased due to the inclusion of six
additional sites compared with the previous year.
120000 12 With the introduction of the new SEED software for
collecting environmentally relevant statistics at the
100000 10 individual sites, the previous year’s figures were
verified and in some cases adjusted at the same time,
thereby improving data quality. 66 sites and 86%
80000 8
of all employees are currently included in the database.
60000 6
Waste for recycling (t)
40000 4 Other waste (t)
Municipal waste (t)
Total waste/employee (t/employee)
20000 2

0 0
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Figure 26.2 Rieter waste and recycling annual trends.

26.7 Exemplary Performer—Textile

By-Product Reuse

Rieter Automotive is an excellent example of a textile and automotive supply company
excelling in waste minimization. Rieter is an industrial group based in Winterthur,
Switzerland, and operating on a global scale. Formed in 1795, the company is a lead-
ing supplier to the textile and automotive industries. Rieter has a presence in 20 coun-
tries with some 70 manufacturing facilities and has a total worldwide workforce of
approximately 15,500 employees. Figure 26.2 provides a snapshot of Rieter’s waste
and recycling trends from 2003 through 2007.

26.8 Additional Information

1 www.textilerecycle.org.
2 www.epa.gov/garbage/textile.htm.
3 www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_manufacturing.
4 www.reiter.com.