A critical review of hazardous waste generation from textile industries and associated ecological impacts

Abstract

Among many industries, the textile industry is the oldest industry of human civilization. Cloth is the second most important human need after food. Textile processing includes several steps in which wet processing is the most important. As wet processing involves an extensive amount of water and chemicals, an enormous volume of textile effluent generates during wet processing. Textile effluents is disposed of on bare land or on water bodies, which causes soil and water contamination. Improper disposal of textile effluents causes severe soil and water contamination. Textile effluents contain dyes, heavy metals, inorganic salts, surfactants, organic contaminants, oil, and grease. Textile effluents cause contamination in water bodies. The colour present in effluents hinders the photosynthesis of aquatic plants. Inorganic salts cause the degradation of water quality and soil excellence. Heavy metals enter the food chain and cause severe health impacts on human life. Various physical, chemical, bailogical and hybrid methods are used to treat textile effluents. Textile processing has been explained in brief in this study. The current research deals with different textile processing steps, various pollutants generated in textile processing and their ecotoxicity, various ecological crises associated with textile processing, and numerous treatment methods for the remediation of textile effluents.