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You might not know it to look at them, but the fabrics and textiles upholstering your furniture can hide some pretty nasty secrets behind that perfect shade of green you got to match the curtains. As with the wood that forms the frame and the cushions that make it comfy, there are some important eco-considerations to make when choosing the textiles that go in your home.
It probably isn't something many of us think about -- aren't dyes for Easter eggs? -- but there are some surprisingly unhealthy ingredients in many fabric dyes. Like synthetic foams, they often contain reproductive or developmental toxins (like the flame retardants containing PBDEs) and mutagens and endocrine disrupters (like dioxins), either in synthetic dyes or mordants, which "fix" the dye to the fabric. So, how do you avoid them?
Look for low-impact dyes. Low-impact dyes don't contain toxic chemicals or mordants (most of the time), and often have a high absorption rate into the fabric, which requires less water to rinse, and, as such, creates less waste water. Interestingly, in many cases, low-impact dyes are not derived from "natural" or vegetable sources (more on that on a sec), and instead come from synthetic (read: petrochemical) sources.
On the plus side, in addition to the reduced water needed from high absorption rates, these synthetic dyes are applied at relatively low temperatures (30 degress Celsius compared to 100 degrees needed for direct dyes), which saves energy needed to heat the dyes. These dyes are also quite expensive, making it cheaper to reclaim the dye from the used water rather than dump it and start over; reclaiming the dye also allows the water to be recycled. But, they still require the non-renewable, finite resource of oil.
Cast your vote for vegetable dyes. Veggie dyes can be a good choice, too; they come from natural sources that we can grow again and again. The mordants required to fix them are often fairly common household materials like alum, and aren't seriously toxic. However, these dyes tend to require a much larger volume of dyestuffs to do the job, so, depending on how they were farmed, can be very high-impact; if the materials came from a heavily-fertilized, pesticide-laden crop, the impact is going to be higher.
Unfortunately, there isn't a certification program in place here in the U.S. to certify "low-impact" dyes (there's something called the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 in Europe), but companies like Q Collection, Mod Green Pod and the Cradle-to-Cradle certified offerings from Climatex and Victor Innovatex are good choices.
Of course, choosing fabrics like organic cotton to go with your low-impact dyes is an important part of the equation (but that's another post). Stay tuned for more soon!
Difficulty level: Moderate
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