Chrome-tanned leather is greener, academic says
20/07/2009
Tony Covington, Emeritus Professor of Leather Technology at the University of Northampton, has said that chrome-tanned leather could be less harmful to the environment than vegetable-tanned alternatives.
Speaking at the Beast to Beauty leather conference on July 17, Professor Covington said he felt that the arguments President Hu Jintao of China heard during a visit to a veg-tanned leather facility in Tuscany earlier in the month could be “somewhat spurious”.
He explained that the tanning process inactivates chromium, while the tanning agents used in the typical vegetable-tanning process will not break down in the environment and remain active. He commented: “It runs counter to intuitive thinking, but a move away from chrome doesn’t make complete scientific or technological sense. Chrome is more environmentally useful and I think we are stuck with it for a few decades yet.”
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