Colombia is fighting illegal tanneries. The government of the Cundinamarca Department has censed leather companies present on its territory. The goal: to understand which ones are respecting the law and thus not polluting the Bogotà river. The findings are concerning. Only 27% of the tanneries are respecting all regulations.
The proceedings
Cundinamarca’s Regional Autonomous Corporation has counted 110 active tanneries between the cities of Villapinzón and Chocontá. Only 30 of them aren’t at fault. Of the 30, 22 are tanneries that began a compliance process back in 2015. Throughout the following years, the local government tried to involve the remaining entrepreneurs, in many cases the 2nd or even 3rd generation of tanners, convincing 8 of them to follow regulations. Thanks to the activities mentioned, 25 more tanneries have since then undergone the process to become compliant.
Competitiveness
“The idea is to give visibility to the importance of respecting all parameters set by environmental authorities to become more competitive – points out José Miguel Piedrahita (National Association of the Footwear, Leather and Allied Sector) to online portal extrategiamedios.com -. We hope our customers still trust the quality of the leather we produce and the fact that we respect the law”.
Green Training
The local government is working to create an “informational” program that, once completed, will give the “eco-tanning” certificate to those attending. The initiative is proceeding in partnership with the Free University of Bogotà. In other words: offering tanners the chance to learn how to improve their processes while becoming more environmentally friendly. At the same time, improving the quality of production.
Image taken from car.gov.co
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