The new Oeko-Tex certification 'Sustainable Textile Production (STeP)’ is required for environmentally friendly and socially responsible production facilities from April 1. Certification is possible for production facilities of all processing stages. From July 2013, STeP replaced the previous certification of production sites according to Oeko-Tex Standard 1000. According to David Pircher, Business Development Manager of Oeko-Tex, the interest in STeP goes well beyond the penetration known as the Oeko-Tex Standard 1000, which was the precursor to STeP. The acceptance of STeP is expected to rise.
In the future, production sites certified in accordance with STeP must comply with new criteria relating to their waste water. Also, STeP standard requires all employees to comply with ethically correct behavior and therefore, companies must provide employees with a written Code of Conduct defining company’s ethical principles.
With a view to exclude the worst forms of child labour, the STeP criteria for ‘Social Responsibility’ have also been modified. STeP certified companies must, in the future, also be able to provide evidence of compliance with ILO standard C182. All forms of slavery and forced labour, such as Sumangali, practised in India, are categorically excluded. Two new processes have also been included in the list of banned processes. These are: Sandblasting for the treatment of jeans and other articles.
Appropriate storage areas must be provided immediately to ensure that, wherever possible, pollution of the immediate environment and groundwater is excluded. This also specifies that the storage of production waste must be protected from external weather conditions and from fire.
The list of banned and regulated substances for the manufacture of textiles (MRSL, Manufacturing Restricted Substances List) has been updated. The list of exclusionary criteria includes aspects such as specifications that each employee must receive a written employment contract, the company ensures specific workplace conditions for young employees and payment of deposits for the recruitment of new employees is not permitted.
The STeP standard can now also be applied to production companies for accessory parts for textile manufacture with immediate effect.
