Leather & The Environment

[Guest guest]

This issue has also come up on the alt.animals.ethics.vegetarian newsgroup

today-

 

A summary of industrialised leather tanning is provided;

 

Tanneries

In its natural state as hide or skin, leather would be totally unsuitable for

its current uses and rot rapidly. To make it pliable and longer lasting, hide

is treated with a wide range of environment damaging chemicals such as lime,

sodium sulphate solution, emulsifiers, non-solvent degreasing agents, salt,

formic acid, sulphuric acid, chromium sulphate salts, lead, zinc,

formaldehyde, fats, alcohol, sodium bicarbonate, dyes, resin binders, waxes,

coal tar derivatives and cyanide based finishes. Tannery effluent contains

large amounts of other pollutants such as proteins and hair. Overall the

production of leather is far more polluting than the modern synthetic versions

such as lorica.

 

http://www.vegansociety.com/html/whyvegan/whyenvt.html

 

There is also a link to an article about traditional natural methods of tanning

 

http://www.braintan.com/intro/intro.html

 

Cheers,

Graham

www.landandliberty.co.uk