by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Again and again we are bombarded in “green” publications, whether online or paper, especially the vegetarian and vegan leaning ones, with the message that we all should stop using and wearing leather.
In most cases those that say this talk with a view of stopping animals killed for their hides and advocate the use of a leather substitute.
The problem with the latter, unless for clothing and wallets and such made from cork, is that the leather substitute material is, in the main, oil derived plastic material. This is definitely not better for the environment.
They also tend to show the public videos of animals supposedly being skinned alive for the fur and skin trade. I am not denying that this happens for it does with the seal hunts in Canada and this is something that should not be, leather per se, whether from cows or pigs, or whatever, comes from very dead animals that are killed for meat. So why not make use of the skin, as man has done for millennia?
The practices of some in the fur and skin trade have gained a lot of media coverage to the point that wearing of fur as a fashion statement is generally frowned upon these days.
Most leather does in fact come from animals that have been humanely slaughtered in abattoirs, in professional slaughterhouses, and they are, in fact, meat animals, and the use of the hide is, theoretically, secondary. This is the case, definitely, as regards to cow hides, and pig's leather. Most leather that is being used for leather goods of any kind is, in fact, cow hide.
What else would we do with the hide of an animal that has been slaughtered for meat, other than making it into leather.
The saddest thing, however, in my view, is when leather goods, especially I am thinking here about bags and belts, are thrown into the trash for one reason or another, often a reason that could be solved with a little bit of repair. Then again, repair is such a thing in our modern world.
Leather and environmental issues
Even if that is the case, and the term "humane" when it comes to slaughter is subject to a lot of controversy, what about the other environmental impacts from our desire for leather?
Leather's chemical cocktail
As leather is basically just skin, the base component (rawhide) is fully biodegradable. Without some form of treatment, known as tanning, it would simply fall apart.
Back in the old, old days, smoke was often used to cure leather as were vegetable tannins, salt, urine and animal faeces or animal brains - it was a rather smelly and messy affair, so most tanneries were situated outside towns.
While this tanning was smelly and messy, it was still, theoretically, all done with natural materials. Run off from such activities was not without its problems, though, either.
Nowadays, however, things are much different.
These days, this is how most tanning proceeds: First the hides are first prepared by by curing them with salt. But that has always been so. Salt has always been used in the tanning process. The the hides are then soaked in clean water to remove the salt.
After the hides are treated with one or more of the following as part of the de-hairing process:
* Sodium sulfide
* Sodium hydroxide
* Sodium hydrosulfite
* Arsenic sulfide
* Calcium hydrosulfide
* Dimethyl amine
* Sodium sulphydrate
Once the hair is removed, the hides are then treated with a mixture salt and sulphuric acid if mineral tanning is to be done. So Coca Cola could be a great tanning agent, I guess, considering that its main ingredient is sulphuric acid.
The hides are soaked in water once again and biocides such as pentachlorophenol may be used to prevent bacterial growth.
Tanning can be performed, and usually this is via mineral methods that uses chromium in the form of basic chromium sulfate
Modern tanning is still a messy and smelly affair with a ton of extra energy, water and toxic chemicals thrown in. The process is so toxic that many old tannery sites cannot be used for agriculture. Tanneries not only often poison the land they are situated on, but also the waterways into which they discharge effluent.
Given all that, many people are left wondering if modern leather tanning processes are just as environmentally damaging as some of the plastics we use in clothing and furnishings such as polyester and nylon, and to some degree this may be so. But, then again, it does not have to be. Vegetable tanned leather is possible as is leather that is tanned in the very old ways. But that could be somewhat more expensive – at least to start with.
Leather, properly looked after and cared for can last for decades and more than than even.
There are alternatives to leather but...
While you could just turn your back on leather altogether, so many of those alternatives are petro-chemical based and/or are incredibly environmentally destructive and use very energy intensive processes.
The other problem with the alternatives to leather, such as pleather, which is just a slang term for synthetic leather made out of plastic, aside of the associated impacts, is that synthetic leather just does not last. The only other option as far as shoes and boots are concerned, in my opinion, is latex rubber. They last a bit longer than most of those synthetic leather ones and rubber is a natural material. But who would want to wear rubber shoes and boot all day every day?
I, for one, will not change from leather, and in the main no animal is just bred for the leather. Those that claim that talk trash.
© 2009
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Leather and the environment
