Yesterday Dyecoo won the Herman Wijfels award for their on CO2 working textile dying machine. With this machine textile dyeing will save energy and can be done in a more eco friendly manner. The machine uses less chemicals and dye bases and no water is needed! Normally there is between 150 and 200 liters water needed for the dyeing of 1 kilo textile. If you imagine that on a yearly basis about 60 to 70 billion kilo textile is produced from which half of it will be dyed you can calculate how much water is needed for this. And then we didn't even spoke about the quantities of polluted water that is dumped into nature. With the invention of this new machine the dyeing process time can be done half as fast and there is 30 to 50% less energy needed. But the use of CO2 has more advantages, the quantity of dye bases needed is much lower than when using water. Hopefully this invention will cause a change in the textile sector. Textile multinationals are letting know they are interested in the machine so let's hope this machine will make a positive change.

The change to Fair Trade and Organic cotton is paying off for the farmers and families. In Mali, the biggest cotton country of Africa more and more farmers are taking a step forward towards a production of fair trade and organic cotton. Last week Max Havelaar and non profit organisation ICCO where on a fact finding mission in Mali. Mali is one of the pourest countries in the world but the long staple makes Mali having one of the best cotton. During their visit Max Havelaar spoke to N'Koro Bagayogo, head of a cooperation of cotton farmers. He is telling that the women could not go to the fields beacuse of the pesticides and even washing the clothes of their men could lead to dead. Villages get into money problems and when the cotton price was low or the crop let down the costs for pesticides and chemical fertilizers could not be paid off. Due to the arrival of Max Havelaar these stories belong to the past for more and more villages in Mali. Because of the work of Max Havelaar the farmers are getting a fixed price for their cotton and production is slowly growing. For the whole story please check on P+