Categoría: Ecology

Original content posted by: COTANCE.

COTANCE, along with 30 other international leather industry organizations, today called on the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) to have a fresh look at natural materials. The “Leather Manifesto” asks the COP26 to recognise the cyclical, climate-efficient characteristics of natural fibres and their aptitude to reduce the climate impacts of consumer products.

“Natural fibres are part of the biogenic carbon cycle and as such are comprised of carbon that has been in the atmosphere for a millennia,” the Leather Manifesto states. “These readily available raw materials, when ethically and properly produced, are an important replacement for fossil fuels, reducing the need for its extraction and retaining more carbon in the earth. Furthermore, at the end of life, properly produced natural materials will biodegrade, limiting their impact and mitigating harmful emissions, such as microplastic pollution, often associated with synthetic materials.”

The signatories further note that leather risks being penalised because of a lack of understanding of its nature. Producers of leather substitutes, often fossil fuel-based synthetic alternatives, use this confusion to make unsubstantiated claims about their sustainability.

“Leather exists because Mankind discovered a way to transform a residue of meat production into a durable material that would otherwise rot causing harm to human health and the environment. Can we afford losing this beautiful, natural and renewable resource that has been with us since the eve of time?” said COTANCE President Manuel Rios (INPELSA, Spain).

You can read the original post HERE.

Content posted by: LEATHER NATURALLY.

Meat & Livestock Australia has created a simple animation that explains the difference in the environmental impact of methane from cows and carbon dioxide from fossil fuels.

Methane is part of the natural carbon cycle that after 12 years breaks down into natural CO2 and water. Grass absorbs the CO2 by photosynthesis and the cycle starts again. CO2 from fossil fuels is new and does not come from this natural carbon cycle, so remains in the atmosphere for potentially 1,000 years.

The difference between methane from livestock and CO2 from fossil fuels is widely misunderstood and misreported – this animation makes it easy to understand:

You can read the original content HERE.

Content posted by: LEATHER CLUSTER BARCELONA.

On 17 June, Leather Cluster Barcelona took part in the first day of the ‘Sustainable Experiences’ cycle, at the Espai Guasch in Capellades (Barcelona).

The ‘Sustainable Experiences’ are born of the concern for the environment and sustainability. It is an integrative and open project that wants to become a space for reflection and debate to raise awareness and promote actions and projects of sustainability.

In line with the demands of society, ‘Sustainable Experiences’ want to increase environmental and ecological awareness, giving voice and amplifying the message of those practices that directly and positively affect the environment: sustainable business projects, initiatives for contribute to caring for nature or actions to address ecological concerns around consumption.

This first meeting, which brought together more than 40 people, discussed sustainability and zero waste, and had the interventions of featured speakers such as Jordi Vidal, executive director of Leather Cluster Barcelona, ​​who presented different examples of transformation of waste in resources in which the cluster is working.

During the guest speech, it was emphasized that we are in a time of paradigm shift in which a positive view is needed: the rejections of one sector can be the raw material of another. The waste of a production process can have a second useful life, being valued in raw materials by other industries or processes.

You can read the original content HERE.

Content posted by: Leather Naturally.

Leather Naturally published an article asking “Is leather environmentally friendly?”. The simple answer is «yes». Leather is a highly versatile, widely used material and there are a number of elements in its manufacture that contribute to its environmental credentials.

Leather as a raw material is renewable, and in products it is long-lasting and repairable. It is made from a by-product of the food industry. If this by-product were not converted into leather, it would be thrown into a landfill, a significant environmental risk.

Leather can be repaired, refurbished and re-purposed but it has also been recycled for well over 70 years into leather fibre board, a material used in footwear, or sometimes as ground up trimmings for stuffing boxing punch bags. A lot of R&D is currently ongoing to expand the applications for leather recycling. Leather is made from a by-product of the food industry. If this by-product were not converted into leather, it would be thrown into a landfill, a significant environmental risk.

And as a natural product, leather will biodegrade in a typical landfill in 10 to 50 years, depending on the type of leather. A typical Polyvinyl Chloride plastic material takes 500+ years to break down in the same environment.

You can read the original content HERE.

Content posted by: LEDERPIEL.

The hair left over from the leather tanning process can be used as raw material in the manufacture of cosmetics and fertilizers. This is demonstrated by an investigation by the research group of the Igualada University Campus-UdL A3 Leather Innovation Center, focused on the use of a problematic residue for the tanning industry such as hair.

The use of the residue has been made from the extraction of its protein in order to obtain keratin products that represent an added value for other industries, such as cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. This protein thus becomes raw material to make, for example, face and hair creams, plant fertilizers and can even be used as a supplement in animal feed.

Several companies in the cosmetic and fertilizer sector have already been interested in the product and it is expected that it can be commercialized shortly.

You can read the original article HERE.

Content posted by: One4Leather.

One 4 Leather recently published an article entitled “Odour and emission reduction in leather tanneries”.

There is a lot to be said for the reduction of chemicals and hazardous substances in production and products. After all, health and safety matters to us, animals, and our planet. However, the natural alternatives we used in the past are not always something we would like to return to, particularly when it comes to leather tanning.

Leather tanneries were located on the outskirts of towns, preferably on the far end so the wind would not carry the smell. Animal hides were originally processed using urine and dog faeces. The urine would help clean the leather, whereas the faeces contain enzymes that helped prepare the collagen in the hide. As this was often done in the open air, the smell of urine, faeces and decaying wastes were carried by the wind. Not particularly enjoyable, but a regular part of city life in the olden days. Up until the Victorian age, it was perfectly normal for the inhabitants of cities to collect dog faeces and urine for the exact purpose of leather making, therefore, the streets were relatively clean.

Modern processing has removed the need for these odorous ingredients. Even vegetable tanning, a method that also used the old technologies, has modernised. However, modern use of chemicals and other agents bring with them a new challenge: to manage the processes and chemistry to minimise any odour.

Modern tanning methods may have gaseous emissions. More often than not, the chemistry of tanning is carefully controlled to prevent any emissions, but where they do arise, the gaseous emissions are controlled using modern technology, such as filtration systems, which capture any emissions and prevent them from going anywhere.

The European Leather Industry reports significant reductions in VOCs in leather production. Greener chemistry and effective (waste)water management have contributed to a reduction of pollutants in the exhausts from tanneries. Tanners have also invested in circular processes where process heat is reused for thermal processes (or green energy, lowering CO₂ and NO₂ Production.

You can read the original article HERE.

Content posted by: Lederpiel.

Lederpiel publishes, this March, a news item entitled «Leather, imitated but not equaled». It explains that a study has recently been carried out in Europe to assess a total of 9 alternatives to leather of animal origin and that they are promoted as alternatives to it.

Specifically, the elements studied were Desserto (cactus), Kombucha (mushroom), Pinatex (pineapple), Noani (eucalyptus), Appleskin (apple skin), Vegea (grape residue), SnapPap (paper skin), Teak Leaf (teak leaves) and Muskin (mushroom). The samples were analyzed at the independent Research Institute for Leather and Synthetic Materials (FILK) in Freiberg, Germany. The FILK examined the technical properties of these nine leather alternatives, resulting in the Trend Alternatives for Skin Study. The conclusion of this report is clear: none of the substitutes tested exhibited all the intrinsic characteristics of the skin, while some of the substitutes were found to contain chemicals of concern.

For the European employers’ association of tanners, “the result of the study concludes that until today the leather is much superior to its substitutes. It is important that customers and consumers are aware of the deficit in properties of alternative materials.

You can access the original content HERE.