The upstream (farming) stage in the leather industry significantly contributes to five of the six impact categories (such as global warming potential and water use), highlighting the need for better farming practices and more accurate datasets on animal farming.
- The findings are from a paper in the Discover Sustainability journal, titled: ‘A global study on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the modern cow leather industry’. The research was conducted by Leather Naturally and SPIN 360.
- The study also highlights the need to constantly seek for updated results when making decisions on environmental impact assessments, since outdated and updated values can differ a lot.
- These findings provide a new benchmark for future LCAs and highlights areas where process improvements can enhance sustainability in the leather industry.
- The authors of the paper are F Brugnoli, K Sena, L Zugno and A Oggioni .
THE TOOLS: SimaPro 9.1.0.8, a robust and reliable LCA software used to ensure the credibility of life cycle assessment results, and the Ecoinvent 3.6 database, that features more than 2,200 new and 2,500 updated datasets, were used to conduct 56 LCA studies of bovine leathers produced by six leather groups in 16 facilities distributed among eleven countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Italy, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, the United States, Uruguay, and Vietnam) and for different types of leather (automotive, shoe, upholstery, and leather goods) that represent most types of leathers produced globally.
- The ISO 14044 LCA methodology was used for LCA and life cycle inventory (LCI) studies providing the scope, interpretation, reporting, and critical review of the LCA.
THE OVERALL FINDINGS: The LCA results indicate that, of the six impact categories studied (global warming, eutrophication, abiotic depletion, water use, water consumption, and freshwater ecotoxicity), the farming stage (upstream) significantly contributes to the impact of five of them.
- A need for more basic data on raw material allocation, processing, and chemicals was identified.
- The study also revealed that the values for several parameters were much lower than previously indicated, particularly regarding allocation to raw materials.
- These new results can be used as a benchmark for complementary studies in this area and to recommend opportunities for process improvements that will make the leather industry more sustainable in the future.
- The paper contains important information for understanding the LCA hotspots and provides insights into the industry regarding the improvements needed in specific process areas.
- It also allows for a better understanding of data gaps that, when addressed, will allow for more reliable aggregated bovine leather LCAs.
THE TERMINOLOGY: Leather processing is described with the following terminology.
- Beamhouse is the process of cleaning the hide and removing hair and subcutaneous material (flesh).
- Tanning is the process of stabilising the hide collagen into a non-putrescible, stable product called leather. Tanning can be performed with chrome III salts originating from the wet-blue leather in the intermediate stage.
- Leather is called wet-white when made with organic tanning materials and vegetable leather when tanned with vegetable extracts. After the tanning process, chemicals are added to the wet leather to modify its properties, a process called re-tanning, and oils and waxes are added for softening and effects. Dyes can be added to the leather to change its color.
- The dry leather after re-tanning is called crust. Crust leather is finished with coatings (transparent or colored) to uniformize the surface and offer more protection. The finishing steps may include light or heavy embossing, sanding, or polishing to modify the surface.
THE IDEA: The objective of the LCA was to broaden the understanding of the potential quantifiable externalities of the modern cow leather industry.
- The work represents 16 facilities in eleven different countries with diverse climatic conditions: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Italy, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, and Vietnam.
- The climatic conditions impacted energy and water consumption mostly in upstream and core processes.
- The study encompasses all four steps of leather manufacturing: beamhouse, tanning, post-tanning and finishing for a variety of types and weights of raw materials (bovine hides).
- Ultimately, the data from 56 assessments for upholstery, footwear and automotive leather were used to create a modern and global LCA for bovine leather.
