EU-India sustainability project for leather clusters launched in TN

The project ‘Promoting circularity in the Tamil Nadu leather clusters for solid waste management’ is a 42-month initiative funded by the European Union under its SWITCH-Asia programme, which promotes sustainable consumption and production across the Asia-Pacific region, the entities said in a joint press release.

The project was launched by the minister of environment, climate change and forest, government of Tamil Nadu Siva V.Meyyanathan and ambassador of the European Union to India, Ugo Astuto. The event also brought together a number of participants from India and EU including Council for Leather Exports, key industry leaders and the representatives from development partner communities.

In line with Tamil Nadu’s effort to transition to a resource-efficient and circular economy model, this initiative supports clusters to adopt cleaner and sustainable production practices. This initiative entails pilot demonstration of sustainable technologies at the tanneries. The EU is India’s third largest trading partner, with Europe being one of the largest markets for Indian leather products. The EU’s support to this initiative is in line with India’s development priorities.

With close to 600 tanneries located in Tamil Nadu, it is the key centre for the leather industry in India. The industry mainly processes semi-finished leather into finished and value-added products for export. The project, supported by the European Union, will follow four key approaches.

Solidaridad will work with its partners and technical experts to demonstrate series of circular tanning and waste to value technologies at cluster level.

Tannery workforce will be capacitated on better tanning practices, solid waste management and occupational health and safety through training-of-trainers Programme.

Sectoral cooperation and market linkages for ‘waste to value’ products will be facilitated by engaging with potential national and international off-takers.

A public-private partnership platform will be established that represents the interests of key stakeholders. These stakeholders will come together to create a roadmap for improving waste management at the cluster level.