About Textiles Online



	At present our small island uses up more natural resources and produces more waste than our fair global share. As we enter a new century the UK Government has pledged to put sustainable development "at the heart of all its policies". In everyday language, this means pursuing economic policies that will not compromise the social or environmental needs of future generations. Textile recycling and the contribution that textiles make to the waste stream have their part to play in sustainable development. It is one of many industries that must seek to 'get the balance right'. This resource is designed to:
	l	to inform the debate on how we, in the UK, can develop a more sustainable approach to
		managing textiles and their waste products.
	l	to promote a dialogue with other key stakeholders including industry and education as well as
		local and central government.
	l	to inform and involve the wider public in the National waste debate.
	l	to enhance the understanding of the processes used for designing, producing and recycling
		textiles as well as their impact on our environment.


	Key resources include:

		What is mass balance? Balancing the inputs of raw materials with the outputs of finished textiles, waste, energy, water and emissions.


		This section contains: l A historical and current perspective that aims to place the textile industry in context.
		l An overview of the future sustainable management of the industry. l An evolving section which will aim to provide quantitative data on mass balance issues within the textile industry.

This resource has been developed by BDP Media Solutions in association with (HTI) Heads, Teachers and Industry in conjunction with the Salvation Army Trading Company and (BTTG) British Textile Technology Group. Development of the site has been funded by Biffaward.

Textilesonline is just one of a series of environmental websites created especially for education. Education for sustainability (www.e4s.org.uk) contains a range of educational resources for those interested in understanding and using our environment in a sustainable and responsible way.

		Heads, Teachers & Industry (HTI) promotes leadership for learning by arranging placements for senior educationalists, as managers, in business for up to a year (www.hti.org.uk). HTI was granted Environmental Trust status in 1996 in order to create lifelong learning materials of the highest quality about Education for Sustainability.

		British Textile Technology Group is a specialised centre of excellence in textile related testing, investigation, evaluation, consultancy and research (www.bttg.co.uk)

		Salvation Army Trading Co. Limited is the trading arm of The Salvation Army. Commencing operations in 1991, it is now one of the leading textile recyclers in the UK and, by using second hand clothing either as "worn again" or as a means of raising funds, helps people with diverse needs both at home and abroad. (http://tecweb.com/sa/quest.htm)

		Biffaward is the funding body established by Biffa comprising joint representation from the Royal Society for Nature Conservation (RSNC) and Biffa. The body was constituted in 1998 following the Government's environmental body initiative as part of the Landfill Tax Regulations.

To see the animation and experience the interactive games you will need to download the Shockwave plug-in onto your computer.

A plug-in is a piece of software which lets you view the animated, interactive content. But don't worry, it is free, easy to download and will take only a few minutes. Once you have it on your computer, you will be able to view thousands of other great sites which have been created using this technology.

This site is optimised for use on machines running Internet Explorer version 4 or above, with Java/JavaScript enabled. For best results, we recommend that you view the site at an 800x600 resolution.

To download the plug-in click on the Get Shockwave button on the Welcome Page. This will take you to the Macromedia Download Centre where all you need to do is click on the "Download Now" button. Simple to follow instructions will appear on the screen when you get to the Download Centre. Security Warnings On Microsoft Windows - when you attempt to download and install Shockwave in Internet Explorer 3.0 or higher, you are often presented with a dialog box which checks that you would like to install the plug in. The dialog box lets you know that files will be transferred to your system and gives you the option of cancelling the download.

Shockwave is an industry standard for creating and viewing web sites and should not create any corruption problems for your system. If you are worried, you can visit the help section of Macromedia site for more information. http://www.macromedia.com/downloads/

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