Environmental impact of How Leather Is Slowly Killing the

People and Places That Make It?

leather industry

By: Biniyam solomon

 INTRODUCTION

• Though we may consider ourselves intellectually and technologically

superior to our cave-dwelling ancestors, we still adorn our bodies,
transports, and homes with the skin of conquered animals.

• But unlike the wholly organic methods used by our forebears, the
modern leather industry is simultaneously killing the local
environment and the people that work there with a toxic slurry of
chemicals.

FIRST UP 2
CONSULTANTS
 World wide leather demand
• The current worldwide market for leather is booming: The 23
billion square feet produced annually is worth more than $77
billion (US), according to recent estimates published in the Scribes
World wide leather demand
Guild Journal.

• Leather footwear is far and away the largest outlet for the stuff,
valued at $47 billion—over 60 percent of the world total trade in
the 2009/10 period footwear
leather goods
• while the next largest outlet, leather goods and products (including leather garment

gloves) were worth about $12.3 billion and constituted 15.9 percent
of the total world trade.

• Leather clothing, auto upholstery, home furnishings, and

miscellaneous other uses rounded out the remaining outlets with
between 8 and 14 percent shares.

FIRST UP 3
CONSULTANTS
 Cont.

• As for processed leather exports, the Chinese and Indian industries

are among the world leaders with 6.6 billion square feet and 2 billion
square feet, respectively, in 2013.

• However, the dirt cheap labor rates (and generally nonexistent

workplace or environmental safety regulations) prevalent throughout
poorer nations in Southeast Asia and africa have attracted a large
amount of the work tanning leather and turning it into goods for
Western markets.

FIRST UP 4
CONSULTANTS
Leather is killing the Is it worthy

environment

FIRST UP 5
CONSULTANTS
 Cont.

• The tanning industry poses many dangers to both the environment

and those that work within it.

• The primary environmental threat involves the dumping of solid and

liquid waste that contains leftover chromium and other hazardous
compounds.

• This is commonplace in regions without strong environmental

protection standards, which also happen to be the primary regions
where leather is tanned, such as China, India, and Bangladesh.

FIRST UP 6
CONSULTANTS
 Cont.
• Even in fully modernized and carefully managed facilities, it is nearly
impossible to reclaim all of the pollutants generated by the tanning
process.

• As a rule of thumb, tanning one ton of hide typically results in 20 to

80 cubic meters of wastewater with Chromium concentrations around
250 mg/L and sulfide concentrations at roughly 500 mg/L, not to
mention the offal effluence from the preparation phase and the
pesticides often added to keep mold growth down during transport to
the facility.

• 70 percent of an untreated hide is eventually discarded as solid

waste—the hair, fat, meat, sinew, all goes straight into the trash.

FIRST UP 7
CONSULTANTS
 Cont.

• There are ways to mitigate these impacts. As the United Nations

Industrial Development Organization's report Chrome Management in
the Tan yard points out, using industry-proven techniques such as
direct recycling—which uses the same chromium bath for both the
initial tanning and subsequent re-tanning stage—can reduce
chromium levels in wastewater by 21 percent.

• However, as the UNIDO study authors wrote, "even though the

chrome pollution load can be decreased by 94 percent on introducing
advanced technologies, the minimum residual load 0.15 kg/t raw hide
can still cause difficulties when using landfills and composting sludge
from wastewater treatment on account of the regulations currently in
force in some countries."

FIRST UP 8
CONSULTANTS
 Cont.

• What's more, all of these advanced recovery techniques cost heaps of

money, effort, and time—but mostly money—to implement properly.

• And what don't many developing nations have a lot of? Money for
environmental protection, that's right.

• So in regions where such regulations are relaxed or easily bypassed

with some well-placed bribes, tanneries are still throwing the chrome
out with the bathwater.

FIRST UP 9
CONSULTANTS
 Cont.
• Wastewater pollution is primarily a byproduct of the initial
preparation (or "beamhouse") stage, wherein bits of flesh, hair, mold,
poop, and other animal byproducts are mixed into wash water and
discarded.

• Minute doses of chromium are needed by many plants and animals to

regulate metabolic functions.

• However, in large doses, such as when chromium-laced waste is

dumped into regional water systems, it can damage fish gills, incite
respiratory problems, infections, infertility, and birth defects.

• It can also instigate a number of serious cancers in animals

throughout the food chain. FIRST UP 10
CONSULTANTS
It's also killing its Product killing its

makers makers

FIRST UP 11
CONSULTANTS
 Cont.
• Work within the tannery itself is fraught with dangers—often the
result of inadequate or non-existent worker protections.

• These includes slips and falls on improperly drained floors; exposure

to lime, tanning liquor, acids, bases, solvents, disinfectants, and other
noxious chemicals.

• injury from heavy machinery or flaying knives; drowning, being

boiled alive, or buried in lime, are all terrifyingly real hazards.

• Still, the most dangerous part of modern tanning is handling

chromium. In humans, chromium causes a myriad of ailments
depending on how it is absorbed.
FIRST UP 12
CONSULTANTS
 Cont.

• When inhaled, chromium acts as a lung irritant and carcinogen,

affecting the upper respiratory tract, obstructing airways, and
increasing the chances of developing lung, nasal, or sinus cancer.

• Chromium normally is absorbed this way as fine particulate dust that

is produced when both raw and tanned leathers are buffed, smoothed,
and ground up.

• Chromium has been linked to increased rates of asthma, bronchitis,

polyps of the upper respiratory tract, pharyngitis, and the enlargement
of the hilar region and lymph nodes.

FIRST UP 13
CONSULTANTS
 Cont.

• It doesn't play well with your skin either. Once absorbed through
unprotected handling, chromium can cause dry, cracked, and scaled
skin; as well as erosive ulcerations that refuse to heal known "chrome
holes."

• And should one become sensitive to Chromium exposure, contact

with it will result in swelling and inflammation known as allergic
dermatitis.

FIRST UP 14
CONSULTANTS
 Cont.
• Additionally, the raw hides are also a breeding ground for anthrax,
which can easily make the leap to humans by mixing with aerosolized
pollution.

• Though this has been virtually eliminated in the Western tanning

industry now that hides are disinfected before being shipped for
processing.

FIRST UP 15
CONSULTANTS
And then there's the The silent killer

cancer

FIRST UP 16
CONSULTANTS
 Cont.

• Back in 1980, nobody outside of the tanning industry had any inkling
that the work they were doing might be making them sick.

• In fact, a 1981 study by the International Agency for Research on

Cancer (IARC) found no link between the tanning process and nasal
cancer in tannery workers.

• However, over the next few years additional case reports and studies
began uncovering a link not just to nasal cancer but bladder and
testicular cancer as well, which was associated with the dyes or
solvents employed in the finishing process.

FIRST UP 17
CONSULTANTS
 Cont.

• By the mid 1990s, a number of other forms, including lung and

pancreatic cancer—both of which are way down the list of cancers
you might survive—were associated with leather dust and tanning.

• By the start of this century, researchers had uncovered another link

between Hexavalent Chromium or Cr(VI) compounds and increased
risk of respiratory cancer.

• Hexavalent Chromium is the +6 oxidation state of the element, a

purely manufactured form of the ore that is not found in nature and
inherently more unstable than the natural +3 oxidation state.

FIRST UP 18
CONSULTANTS
 Cont.

• Once common throughout the tanning industry, as well as the

automotive industry, Cr(VI) has been labeled as a known human
carcinogen by the EPA, the US Department of Health and Human
Services (DHHS), and the WHO, and has become strictly regulated—
verging on outright banning.

• Germany, in fact, went ahead and actually banned the oxide's use in
leather goods, capping contamination at just 3 ppm, back in 2010.

• And that's a good thing too because, as a number of studies since the
1980s have suggested, Cr(VI) toxicity appears to be an additive
process with more severe issues developing and worsening over years
of exposure—the same as with lead exposure or cigarette smoking.
FIRST UP 19
CONSULTANTS
So what do we do? The way ahead

FIRST UP 20
CONSULTANTS
 Cont.
• The problem, as you may have gathered, isn't in the tightly-regulated
tanneries in first world-countries—it's in the developing nations that
perform the vast majority of the work.

• Many regions are making efforts to clean up these polluting

industries. However, progress is slow. Take Kanpur, India—the self-
proclaimed "Leather City of World"—for example.

• This city once housed more than 10,000 tanneries which, in 2003,
were dumping more than 22 tons of effluence into the Ganges river
every day.

• The city took action in 2009, sealing 49 of the highest-polluting

tanneries in town—out of a list of 404 heavy polluters.
FIRST UP 21
CONSULTANTS
 Cont.

• And in impoverished nations like Bangladesh, where this industry

generates $600 million in exports each year, the health of workers and
the environment are distant afterthoughts.

• 90 percent of these exports are produced in the Hazaribagh

neighborhood of the capital city Dhaka.

• It was rated as one of the five most toxic, heavily-polluted sites on

the entire planet last year by the Blacksmith Institute.

FIRST UP 22
CONSULTANTS
 Cont.

• Unfortunately, short of binding UN arbitration or a massive,

international boycott against chromium-tanned leather, there doesn't
look to be much impetus for these practices to cease.

• As long as the first world continues to export these sorts of dangerous

jobs to impoverished and easily-exploited developing nations, our
desire for affordable plush leather will carry a steep price—paid in
human suffering.

FIRST UP 23
CONSULTANTS
The future of leather What's next

FIRST UP 24
CONSULTANTS
 The industry needs change because
• Growing global population with ever increasing demands - not
enough
• fossil fuel or water, more CO2 emissions and other waste
products
• There is an increasing awareness of the needs and benefits of
socially responsible behavior by both organizations and the
public
• We all need to take responsibility and contribute: governments,
businesses and consumers
• More and more companies select suppliers that comply with
policies. It is not a marketing tool, but a strategic business
operation
• is part of a company’s license to operate – a must-have

FIRST UP 25
CONSULTANTS
 Cont.

• Leather processing is considered by some to be a

“dirty” operation with high water and energy usage
and lots of chemicals.

• More pressure from special interest groups and

consumers on fashion products

• It is no longer the done thing to only take care of

what happens on your own premises, you need to
understand and work with the whole supply chain

FIRST UP 26
CONSULTANTS
 Areas for possible
improvement
• Raw material

• Leather – wet processing

• Leather – finishing

• Cutting and sewing

• Shoe / seat / bag construction

• Life cycle

• Disposal or recycle
FIRST UP 27
CONSULTANTS
 RAW MATERIAL
• A key part of Sustainability is traceability, a growing number of
brands using leather want to know where the hide came from. There
is currently more demand in the leather goods market but expect
growth in furniture and auto as well

• Better quality hides mean better cutting yield and less waste, so vital
to encourage improvement in animal husbandry

• Process at least to the tanned stage close to source to avoid salting and
higher transport costs

• Acceptance that the carbon footprint of leather starts with the hide,
not the cow, greatly improves the situation
FIRST UP 28
CONSULTANTS
 LEATHER - WET PROCESSING
• Key points are how to tan and how to utilize as much of the by-
products of the process as possible

• Chrome tanning remains the most common option for leather.

However, for bags and shoes, chrome free is growing in demand

• Waste – collagen, hair, fat, shavings, etc. – remains underutilized

meaning that instead of adding value, they are disposed of at some
cost
• Always important to remember that upgrading starts in the
beamhouse, not the finishing room

• Lighter weight leathers a new option

FIRST UP 29
CONSULTANTS
 LEATHER - FINISHING
• A delicate balance between keeping the leather looking like leather
and guaranteeing performance. Enough coverage to improve cutting
but not enough to take the leather look away

• Plenty of room for improvement in the process – less coats, lower

drying temperatures, roller coating rather than spray. All use less
energy and / or produce less waste without loss of performance

• The use of bio based raw material rather than oil based for resin
production is starting, the impact on the food chain of this
development is constantly checked.

• Better dye ingress resistance increases the life of the leather

FIRST UP 30
CONSULTANTS
 CUTTING AND SEWING

• The biggest improvement can come from using parts containing

acceptable natural defects – cutting yield increases dramatically,
waste drops

• Is it worth considering again the finishing of cut parts rather than

whole hides?

• Better outlets / usages for the cutting room waste leather

FIRST UP 31
CONSULTANTS
 SHOE / SEAT / BAG CONSTRUCTION

• Always room for a better marriage between design and performance

expectations

• Explore the limits of natural markings – most leather goods buyers

want to know they are buying the real thing

• Lamination – on the increase but problematic

FIRST UP 32
CONSULTANTS
 LIFE CYCLE
• Better advice for the consumer on leather care

• Honest advice to the consumer on what is and what is not leather

DISPOSAL OR RECYCLE?
• As landfills become more expensive and more restricted, time to
look at alternatives - recycle, re-use?

• Fashion can no longer be part of the throw away culture

• Biodegradable leathers

FIRST UP 33
CONSULTANTS
 CONT.

• There will always be room for improvement in the leather supply

chain with regard to sustainability. There needs to be a healthy
ongoing discussion on new

• possibilities as and when they arise but also on the smaller changes
that all contribute to a better future.

• In overall sustainability performance, leather at least matches

competitive materials but this must not lead to a feeling of
complacency

FIRST UP 34
CONSULTANTS
THANK YOU
By: Biniyam solomon

35