Textile made in developing countries travels vast distances, thus causes serious pollution to the atmosphere. In the hope of cutting down on costs of labour some Czech companies have moved their production abroad, especially to Asia. In 2015 clothing imports totalled 25,112 billion CZK, which on the other hand represents a huge load of atmosphere pollution because of the transport. For example just a pair of casual jeans has to travel about 19,000 km to the Czech market. It is the transport which stands behind the release of nitrogen oxides (NOx), which rank to major air pollutants. Annual emissions transcend repeatedly unbelievable 50 million tons and this amount is still increasing.These gases contribute to smog formations, followingly to acid rains. The most frequent nitrogen is nitrogen dioxide (NO2) which causes as well as sulphur dioxide (SO2) respiratory diseases.
Other harmful substances are carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2). CO may cause insufficiency of oxygen transport to tissues and it has been proved that it slows down reflexes. CO2 is safe for human body, yet it contributes significantly to global warming.
Water is needed to convey chemicals into the fabric and to wash it at the beginning and end of every step. It absorbs all chemical additives and then is expelled as wastewater, which in turn pollutes rivers and also soil in the form of residual waters.
“BOD”, which is biochemical oxygen demand or biological oxygen demand, is a measure of organic pollution in a wastewater sample.
Emissions of organic water pollutants are measured by biochemical oxygen demand, which refers to the amount of oxygen that a population of bacteria in water consumes when breaking down the waste. This is a standard water-treatment test on the presence of organic pollutants.
Since the early 1990s, the Czech Republic has experienced a significant improvement in surface water quality, which has resulted mainly from the reduction of the amount of pollution discharged into surface water. The significant reduction in pollution discharged into surface water is not solely the result of the industrial
restructuralisation from early 1990s. It equally importantly owes to the construction and modernisation of sewer systems and waste water treatment plants, which is subsidised both from the state budget and from European Union funds. Even though the surface water quality has improved significantly in the Czech Republic, a needed attention is to be paid to pollution with nutrients and locally with some hazardous substances. Since 1990, the number of waste water treatment plants in the Czech Republic has more than trippled (from 626 in 1990 to 2065 in 2007) and the trend has been continueing. The Czech Republic also has got a long tradition of cooperation with neighbouring countries on border waters, which is sheltered by bilateral commissions for border waters.
A comparison of the changed states of pollution
Air pollution
Water pollution
Air pollution