Sam Setter's 'Pills'

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Bangladesh unravelling

The leather industry in Bangladesh is slowly, slowly disintegrating. Their tanneries in the Hemayelpur area, which is part of the Savar Industrial Complex, are suffering from a non-functional common effluent treatment plant, hence European importers and brands are avoiding buying from them. The only chance to export to brands or big distributions chains is to invest and equip each tannery with an individual effluent treatment or pre-treatment plant as the authorities will need at least another 10 years or more years to come to a decision to upgrade and adapt the Chinese-built noncompliant CETP. In fact, 2 Hemayelpur tanneries have meanwhile installed their own (pre)treatment plant and can hence export within compliance. On the other hand, some Chinese leather importers are not fussy, particularly when the leather is for national consumption. They buy from Bangladesh as they need cheap leather and don’t care about certification or traceability. In cases where they export their finished products to Europe, they construct, if required, traceability and sustainability certification in very inventive ways to conceal the origin of the leather bought from Bangladeshi Hemayelpur. The transfer of the tanneries from Hazaribagh to Savar-Hemayelpur was an urgent requirement but the project was ill-conceived, worse executed and riddled with corruption. When you pay peanuts, all you get is monkeys! The result is that many of the new tanneries have regretfully closed down in bankruptcy or will do so in the near future and leave their owners with huge debts, as they are unable to fulfil their commitments with their banks to repay the loans that were granted for the relocation from Hazaribagh.
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The way forward

The University of Northampton has decided last year to close the course of the Institute for Creative Leather Technologies. Too few students and an increasing imbalance between sectorial income and costs. Covid and Brexit were aggravating an already difficult situation. The era of a leather faculty at a university apparently has finished. However, leather education and scientific research cannot be abandoned as it is essential for the leather industry to progress. So, what is the solution? First of all the industry will have to unite, which as we all know is an almost impossible task to make that happen. I was and still am hoping that SOLES (Supporters of Leather Education & Science) can take the lead, but it needs to get organised and forget about national and personal interests and focus on the global picture. Theoretical education of students can easily be done on-line as has been proven for many university faculties. There are excellent examples of superb training materials for the leather industry developed by various institutions, among which UNIDO. Some are free of charge, others have a price tag. All it takes is to create a united platform in collaboration with the available institutions for a comprehensive university course for the leather industry. The practical education of students can be done in their home country, or other nearby territories, by creating a collaboration with technologically advanced and ESG compliant tanneries and/or fully equipped laboratories. All it needs is the creation of a protocol of tasks that the students must execute. Final exams of the theoretical and practical teachings can be done on-line, and certifications can be issued after the successful conclusion.
All this needs is central unbiased coordination. The Powerball question is, who is up to the challenge? Mmmmmm…..

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