Sustainable leather manufacturing: A topic with growing importance

Abstract

The idea of sustainability has become one of the major topics in industry and politics and probably represents one of the mega-trends of the early 21st Century. Due to outdated processes and methods applied in the leather industry, the waste products and the significant amounts of process water used oppose more and more legislation and the concept of sustainability. Examples are very well known, e.g. organic sludges with sulfides, chrome, salts, residues of surfactants like Nonylphenolethoxylates (NPE), poor biodegradable tannins and fats - the list is long and we are aware that these problems can only be tackled stepwise. Last year we reported about a more sustainable surfactant' for the substitution of NPE's. Today we want to discuss a whole new concept, which especially addresses new legislation in Europe. It states that by the middle of 2005 chrome shavings and other organic wastes can no longer be dumped in landfill-sites.