Chrome tanning is the most common type of tanning in the world. Chrome tanned leathers are characterised by top handling quality, high hydro-thermal stability, user-specific properties and versatile applicability. Waste chrome from leather manufacturing, however, poses a significant disposal problem. Throughout the world, chrome discharge from tanneries is subject to strict regulations. That notwithstanding, chrome is a component that has to be strictly monitored. The environmental impact of chrome discharged from tanneries has been a subject of extensive scientific and technical dispute. Although the legislative limits on the disposal of solid chrome-containing waste have been relaxed in some countries, liquid emissions remain strictly regulated throughout the world. Given the close link between chrome tanning and the environmental impact of leather manufacturing, chrome management is of primary importance in tanning operations. This paper provides information on chrome management and those techniques most frequently used to reduce the amount of chrome in tannery wastewater. By providing information and citing practical experience, the paper aims at contributing to sustainable development of leather manufacture without avoidable harm to environment.

This survey prepared and presented during the 17th UNIDO Leather Panel is a follow-up to Worldwide Study of the Leather and Leather Products Industry, which was the outcome of an exhaustive survey carried out by UNIDO in the 1970s. It is intended to assist the Organization in the formulation of future assistance programmes and in detecting areas where further study of various kinds may be useful. This report assesses the worldwide prospects of the leather and leather products industry in the coming decade. It examines the major underlying trends of recent years and how they are expected to evolve in the short to medium term. In its attempt to provide a thorough picture of the leather sector, the report covers its various aspects: the availability of raw material, the tanning industry, and the manufacture of footwear and other leather products. The basic intention is to help discern prevailing trends in global trade and to support efforts to design an effective role for organizations in the industrial development arena. The findings and forecasts published here are meant to be indicative rather than definitive and to form a basis for further surveys and studies. The need to compile this report arose out of the 16th session of the UNIDO Leather and Leather Products Industry Panel held in Brazil in May 2007. The panel recommended that UNIDO undertake a comprehensive study on the future development of the world leather and leather products industry, a study that would cover demand, technology, production, and trade. Consequently, the UNIDO study provides an analysis of the contemporary demand for leather products (footwear, leather goods, gloves, leather garments, sports goods, upholstery, etc.) vis-à-vis the availability of resources (raw hides and skins, manufacturing capacities, skilled labour, knowledge, support industries, and services). It also contains information on other important aspects of the leather industry: trade statistics, the geographic distribution of production, technology developments, physical infrastructure, environmental conditions, and social aspects involved in the production of leather.

This short paper presented during the 14th UNIDO Leather Panel in Zlin/Czech Republic reports on the general situation, issues and methodology adopted as well as practical experience in implementation of occupational safety and health standards (OSH)  at work in tanneries under UNIDO’s Regional Programme for Pollution Control in the Tanning Industry in South East Asia in late 90-ies involving .international and local experts. For a practical OSH manual see the document Occupational Safety and Health Aspects of Leather Manufacture.

The essential part of any tannery waste audit is assessing the efficiency of existing operations carried out during the leather manufacturing process. Typically, tannery staff have a good idea of, and comparatively accurate figures on the waste resulting from specific operations such as fleshing, splitting, trimming or chrome tanning. Only rarely, however, they have a proper overview of the entire range of waste generated. Thus, when considering various cleaner technologies or waste treatment systems, having access to a complete computation of the overall mass balance certainly makes it easier for a tanner facing arduous choices. Dialogue with environmental authorities is also simpler if such figures are readily available. This paper attempts to provide a comprehensive computation of a mass balance and the efficiency of the leather manufacturing process for a tannery, seen as a closed entity. The calculations are deliberately based on operations in a hypothetical tannery processing bovine hides and producing upper leather for shoes. With minor exceptions (batch washing instead of continuous rinsing, splitting in lime, roller coating), it follows the conventional process.