Corporate Responsibility for Environmental Protection in Tanneries

Published on 19/05/2011

First Update 29/03/2017

The Ministry of Environment & Forest (MoEF) has launched the Charter on “Corporate Responsibility for Environmental Protection (CREP)” in March 2003 with the purpose to go beyond the compliance of regulatory norms for prevention & control of pollution through various measures including waste minimization, in-plant process control & adoption of clean technologies. The Charter has set targets concerning conservation of water, energy, recovery of chemicals, reduction in pollution, elimination of toxic pollutants, process & management of residues that are required to be disposed off in an environmentally sound manner. The Charter enlists the action points for pollution control for various categories of highly polluting industries. The Task Force was constituted for monitoring the progress of implementation of CREP recommendations/ action points.

ACTION POINTS UNDER CREP FOR TANNERY SECTOR

 Chrome Recovery

• All the chrome-tanning units in the country will have the Chrome Recovery Plant either on individual basis or on collective basis in the form of Common Chrome Recovery Plant and use the recovered chrome in the tanning process.
• Common Chrome Recovery Plant is to be installed and commissioned at Kanpur, for which the Feasibility Report has already been prepared.
• Recovered Chromium is to be utilized in tanning process

Waste Minimization Measures

• Waste minimization circles will be formed in all the clusters of tanneries in the country to implement waste minimization measures and for adoption of clean technologies.
• Efforts should be taken to implement the waste minimization measures in all the tanneries in the country and gradually made obligatory with time to the tannery units.

Reduction of Water Consumption in Tannery Units

• All the tanneries should install water meters and flow meters to measure actual consumption and waste water discharge.
• Water consumption rates will be brought down to 28 m 3 /tonne of hides by taking waste minimization measures.

Compliance of standards

All CETPs and ETPs should take the following measures:

• Employ qualified and well trained staff for O & M of the ETPs/CETPs.
• Installation of automatic monitoring instruments.
• Interlocking of manufacturing processes with ETP operation
• Separate Energy meters for ETPs/CETPs by December 2003.
• Open anaerobic lagoons should be converted into closed systems with gas recovery
• For health & safety of worker in the industry & ETP/ CETP the guidelines developed by CPCB should be implemented.
• All major tannery units should take-up environmental auditing on annual basis.
• Major tannery units & CETPs should attempt to obtain ISO-14000 certification
• Tannery units &CETP management should take-up modification/up-gradation of the CETPs/ETPs wherever necessary

Management of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)

All tannery units to adopt the following

• Manual/mechanical desalting.
• Use of cleaner technology for less use of salt.
• Refrigerated transportation of hides
• High Rate Transpiration system for effluent treatment
• Treated wastewater will be mixed with the sewage & the treated effluent be used on land for irrigation.

Solid Waste Management

All the tannery units to adopt the following:

• Utilization of Process sludge for by-product recovery.
• Resource Recovery from process sludge and ETP sludge in the form of Biogas.
• Chromium recovery from tanned leather shavings.
• Safe disposal of hazardous sludge and non-hazardous solid wastes.

Salts from Solar Evaporation

All the tannery units to adopt the following:

• Reuse of recovered salt.
• Quality improvement of recovered salts for reuse
• Safe land disposal
• Sea disposal

Use of Boron bearing compounds will be dispensed with. By: December 2003

Ground water quality monitoring to be strengthened.

Sulphur recovery from sulphide bearing effluents to be explored.

The implementation of recommendations of the Task Force on leather tannery units constituted by the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India in a phased manner.