Reuso de água como estratégia competitiva em lavanderias de jeans no Agreste pernambucano: o caso de Toritama

Abstract

Jeans laundries located in Toritama, in the countryside of Pernambuco, play an important role in the regional economy. However, the production system of this type of enterprise is linear, with cheap labor, small elaborated raw material and low technological innovation. In addition, the laundries in Toritama are located in a location with low water availability, which makes water a limiting factor in production and represents a high cost in the jeans washing process. Faced with this problem, the present work aimed to evaluate whether the adoption of technologies in water reuse can be used as a competitiveness strategy for the textile industry of Toritama/PE. A mixed case study was carried out with the application of a questionnaire on production processes and technologies in water reuse. The results show that reuse is presented as a competitive strategy in the context of laundries as it reduces the cost of producing the parts since the value of the water consumed is passed on in the final product. This makes it possible to offer low-cost jeans and guarantee the competitiveness of the laundries studied in the region.