Difference between revisions of "Leather sustainability and traceability"

Revision as of 09:54, 7 February 2023

What is meant by sustainability when it comes to leather?

Today, more and more customers are demanding sustainable production of the products they buy. Sustainability means many things. Leather is primarily about animal husbandry, animal transport, the slaughter method, leather production, the chemicals used, the employees involved in all processes and the environmental impact.

The carbon footprint of leather

The production of leather creates a carbon footprint. Modern tanneries try to coordinate all their processes in such a way that the smallest possible carbon footprint is left behind. Chemicals for tanning and finishing chemicals are bought more consciously and further developed by the manufacturing industry. Wastewater is saved as much as possible and clarified in a timely manner, and residues are recycled as far as possible. Energy is saved and, where possible, self-generated. Modern tanneries are in a transition process.

Some customers associate leather negatively because it comes from animals and reject animal husbandry and meat consumption, which produces the raw material for leather. In addition, customers have concerns that leather manufacturing could be environmentally harmful, which is true in less developed countries but does not reflect the reality of well-monitored and careful leather manufacturing in developed countries.

Some of the downstream industries argue that the carbon footprint of agriculture must be attributed to the dairy and meat industries because the animals are not kept for leather production. The downstream industry (tannery, leather processors, trade in leather objects) only recycles the waste product "rawhide" from animal husbandry for the production of dairy products and meat products and thus has a positive effect, because a residual product that is otherwise considered waste is recycled into leather and thus only the CO2 emissions can be attributed to the leather industry from the time the rawhide is removed in the slaughterhouse. If leather were not made, waste skins would generate an estimated 5 million tons of CO2 per year. But that is not a realistic view, because otherwise raw hides would be used elsewhere. Some argue that the CO2 share of animal husbandry should be allocated proportionally to the leather industry, which according to the idea corresponds to the C02 allocation “from the cradle to the grave”, i.e. including all input materials.

Customers who reject leather buy substitute products. However, a real alternative to the advantages of leather does not yet exist. The substitute products for leather shoes, clothing, bags, car upholstery covers, or furniture upholstery offered on the markets are almost exclusively based on artificial leather variants made from mineral oil. The CO2 footprint of the production of these alternatives is higher than that of leather production, the durability of these products is significantly lower than of high-quality leather and afterwards it leaves microplastic-generating waste in contrast to leather, which is biodegradable. A longer shelf life of products delays new production and thus leaves a lower carbon footprint than short-lived products, as long as the CO2 generation of the production of the long-lived product is not disproportionately higher, which is not the case with leather compared to artificial leather.

Leather traceability

In the context of discussions about the way animals are kept and leather is produced, the traceability model of leather is discussed in order to be able to prove sustainability.

The idea behind it is a complete trace from the leather back to the animal whose skin was tanned for the leather. This means that the origin of the animal, the husbandry of the animal, the animal transport, the slaughter method, the tanning and the processing into a leather object are documented in a completely transparent manner so that the consumer can ensure that with the purchase of his leather object he is supporting animal welfare-oriented animal husbandry, an environmentally friendly tanning process and socially acceptable working conditions in the tannery, the leather processor and in retail.

Although there are legal regulations for animal husbandry, tanning and the employees in the chain, leather and/or leather objects often come from countries where the desired minimum standards are not observed or are not monitored at all. Traceability therefore requires information that goes beyond the legal national and international regulations.

For the traceability of the animals, barcodes, plastic markings, or leather skin stamps are discussed and even DNA recordings are considered to ensure secure traceability.

Ear tag of plastic for marking cattle.

So far, few leather processors (e.g. Identity Leder) have taken up the issue of traceability, as it involves a great deal of effort and expense and animal keepers and tanners are not yet sufficiently prepared to meet the necessary conditions.

According to a survey of European tanners, many are able to identify the country of origin of the processed rawhides, some also the slaughterhouse, but when it comes to the origin of the animals, the necessary information for full traceability is often missing. There are also understandable concerns on the part of the tanneries about making their sources of supply completely transparent to their competitors, because they could be informed by the end customer information.

Additional information

• Leather production
• Environmental protection
• The Blue Angel
• Seal of approval for leather
• NATURLEDER IVN certified
• Leather waste

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