Are we really paying up the price of using Leather ?

Environmental Implications of The Kanpur Leather Industry

Environment Management Project

Submitted by: Group No. 8, Section: A Abhishek Prasad (PGP/16/001) Hemant Raj Singh (PGP/16/021) Ravi Kant Verma (PGP/16/041) Tanisha Pradhan (PGP/16/055) Zeeshan Hassan (PGP/16/059)
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Agenda
Introduction Why Kanpur Leather Industry ? Stakeholder Analysis How is environment affected ?

What is plight of Labour ?

What role does Industry Play ?

How is agriculture affected ?

How are locals affected ?

What are the Government initiatives ?

Suggestions

Ideal Industry

A Ray of Hope !

The Indian Leather Industry

Among top ten foreign exchange earners for the Indian economy Employs 2.5 million people. Accounts about 3% in the global leather import trade. 2nd largest producer of footwear and leather garments in the world. Known to be very polluting Organic and Inorganic solids !!

Why Kanpur Leather Industry ?

Kanpur - Leather City of India
Highest producer of leather products

No regulation in place to check the industry

Far reaching implications Poisoning of the Ganga (Ganges) Ground water poisoning Negative health effects on workers and locals Animal and aquatic life
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Stakeholder Analysis
Employers and Employees

Farmers

Kanpur Leather Industry

Government

Industry

Environment

Jajmau
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How is Environment Affected ?

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Ganga River

Liquid Effluents having trace of chromium, sulfide, ammonium and salts enter into aquatic system

Discharged waste end up as sediment acting as source and sink of pollution

Resulting sediment affects aquatic life and Ganga water badly

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Ground Water

Large amount of toxic chemical waste buried in the ground

Toxic waste containing metals like Chromium, Cadmium pollute groundwater

Polluted groundwater used for drinking affects health of people

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Soil

Sludge from tannery industries leaks into soil and agricultural land

Sludge is contaminated with toxic metals like chromium(VI) and other toxins

Afflicted soil affects crops affecting agricultural production

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How are the Locals Affected ?

Villagers residing around Kanpur leather tannery commonly called as Chakeri
CARCINOGENICITY SOCIAL CAPITAL

People suffer from deadly cancer, lung problems

Isolation of people suffering from cancer by villagers

AIR POLLUTION

ECONOMIC

Exposure to deadly fumes on burning leather

Sick cows and buffaloes produce less milk affecting income of villagers

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Misery of the locals !!

People have been suffering from diseases originating from polluted air (from bhattis), acidic water (contaminated groundwater from pumps), and contaminated food chain -Dr. Shivlal Sharma CMO, Govt. Hospital Kanpur

The doctors said that contaminated water was the cause of my kidney disease
- Deven Kr Yadav (Sufferer)

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How is Agriculture Effected ?

The free chromium entering the food chain

Raw Sewage being fed to the farm lands before the Ganga Action Plan

GAP has further worsened situation

Treated Wastewater + Tannery effluents instead of Ganga water

Kanpur Nagar Nigam is very ignorant of the situation

The treated water also , contains Cadmium and the carcinogenic Chromium

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Economic Impacts
Low Yield Of Wheat, Paddy And Barseem
Changing Crop Pattern Stunted And Ill Nature Of Yield Livestock Productivity Affected Frequent Fish Mortality
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Loss of Bargaining Power

Social Implications

Loss of trust in the village people by outsiders People not able to sell milk and crops Crops sold in market by false claims

People from the area are looked down upon

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Socio-Ecological results
Loss of bio-diversity in the area Polluted air due to fumes False presentation of supplied crops have larger ill effects 50 years of wastewater and 20 of tannery water has made the land poisonous Animals falling ill and dying Low income and falling living standards Floriculture sustaining livelihood in these villages hit severely

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Institutional Dilemma
Norms for safe irrigation water?

Is it anyways safe to discharge tannery water in the river ?

Should the farmers be made to pay for the unsafe irrigation water or compensated for consuming it?
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What Role Industry Plays ?

Enforcement poor and fraudulent problems

Owners

believed their activity does not harm environment

Bureaucratic obstacle in CEPTs operations Politicians as tannery owners circumvent laws contributed 17.5 per cent cost of the CETP
chromium recovery plants
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CETP in Jajmau

Joint tannery waste and city sewer treatment facility

Many other industries are letting their waste into the general city sewer

Misunderstandings on Lack of information part of the tanners Policies change with time

Ambiguity in what one is supposed to be doing

Operational price

Not dependent upon how much quantity water one use or discharge

Customer demand and government pressure: Motivation for implementation of environmental practices
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Shorter Planning Horizon

short-time perspective for their business

for some the survival is from year to year smaller tanneriesoperations is on and off on a monthly basis

No one thinks of spending time and effort to develop a 5 or 10-year strategy on any issue
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What is the plight of Labour ?

Small and medium tanneries
10 to 100 workers

Large scale

Several hundred Better production technology and mechanized

Manual operations

Hazardous working conditions

chemicals( tanning pigments (Cr VI), organic solvents and other chemicals) and dust

Manual materials handling leading to less trunk flexion

Respiratory disorders, gastrointestinal tract problems, skin complaints, and low-back pain
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The urinary and blood samples collected from the exposed workers showed significantly higher levels of chromium

What does Labour have to say?

In general the atmosphere is laden with fumes and hides discharge foul smell

Workers still show willingness to work there

They say there are no after effects of this work on health

Also they support industry saying, no wastage from tanneries

Lack of awareness, regular health check ups

Disposed in one or another way No damage to soil by the effluent rather it contains elements that make land more fertile
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What are initiatives of Government ?

Ganga Action Plan (GAP)
Water quality to be monitored and primary treatment of effluents should be undertaken

Included the construction of the CETP to treat tannery effluent.

Tragedy of Open Access

The ganga river presents an open access property

Dutch Project : To prevent pollution of the river Ganges and improve living conditions of people in Jajmau

Established regulations with respect to water pollution

Non-excludable hence no single person ready to take responsibility to manage it No effective controls are in place, or feasible thus the cost of exclusion outweighs the benefits
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SPCB State Pollution Control Board was regulatory authority

Water Treatment Plants

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 200 Water Treatment Plants for 400 tanneries Only 65% efficient Waste water is highly corrosive and constantly damaging existing plants Supreme Court has already directed to share these costs on 50:50 bases among Tanners and KNN
Government Initiatives GAP-I Intermediate Pumping Stations(IPS)-to collect the effluent waste from the tanneries

A larger part of this problem exists with the careless behaviour of the government institutions

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 Kanpur is being dumped with tonnes of sledge Kanpur is being discharged with gallons of contaminated water People dying of worst kind of diseases Once a Beautiful Eco-System turned to a Living Hell

The Ganga is more polluted than ever before !!

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And What Media speaks

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Suggestions
Effective Government Control

Effective Monitoring Methods

Noisy Monitoring

Financial Support
Promote Better Techniques

Human Resource Development

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An Example Worth Discussing !!!

ARLEI Leather & Tanneries

Founded in 1938 Situated in Salta (North-Western Argentina) State of the art technology Process over 9,000 hides a day, 7 days per week Argentines first tannery to have ISO14001, ISO 9001 certification
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33 ARLEI Leather Tanneries, Las Toscas, Santa Fe Province, Argentina

ARLEI Leather Tanneries

Committed to preserve the increasingly fragile environment and

Responsible for the safety and health of the surrounding communities
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ARLEI Leather Tanneries

In 2000 U$S 4 million invested in effluent treatment plant

Initial capacity was 7 MLD

By year 2010, water treatment capacity achieved was 11 MLD Process 100% of all Tanning fluids
Las Toscas Santa Fe

Use of natural products e.g. Tannins NO-Chrome or Cadmium Technology Very old & Environment-friendly Method o Takes longer time than Chrome Tanning
Vegetable Tanning

o Adds extra cost to the final product

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ARLEI Leather Tanneries

Vegetable Tanning Solid Waste Treatment Plant

Mechanized Factories

Vegetable Tanning

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ARLEI Leather Tanneries

Arlei complies with all TV requirements Arlei was the first tannery in Argentina to qualify for the ISO 14001 certificate Guarantees its commitment towards the environment Training Program for all its staff to reinforces eco-friendly policy

Taken several steps to minimize waste

Implemented an Internal Recycling Program

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Challenges for reforms

Poor and Fraudulent Regulation No customer demand for cleaner product Flexible Export rules to developing nations Bureaucratic Obstacles Misleading and ill-defined rules Lack of Funds

But there is a Ray of Hope !!!

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Area Water Partnership

India Water Partnership (GWP-India) Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development (SPWD)

Area Water Partnership Zone-2 Kanpur Nagar Nigam

Society for Action in Community Health (SACH) SPWDs sub partners and is responsible for Ground work Shramik Bharti NGO to run Micro-Planning Activities
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Area Water Partnership

Field Visits in 9 Villages in Feb12 Prevalence of water borne diseases Identifying role of residents and KNN beneficiaries Water & Sanitation River Ganga Identification of possible stakeholders in the AWP Follow-Up Visits in May12 Follow-up visits to the residents of both the wards Awareness generation Micro-planning Formation of Ward Bodies Hold Discussions Shrishti Samajik Sansthan
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AWP- Conference
Objective of AWP Develop a Joint Stakeholder Forum Develop a plan to bring Industry and Government on the same page Issues identified Non-availability of potable drinking water Lack of proper sanitation facilities Various NGO Piling up of garbage in the area and Urban/Rural Represenatives Health issues due to polluted water Total 90 Participants were present Maintenance of Treatment Plant Participants Small Tannery Association

Councillors of Kanpur Nagar Nigam

Change can be done only by Constructive Participation and Equitable Sharing of Responsibility 41

Change is Difficult ! But Also, Necessary ! Change is Pain ! But Also, Cure !

Change is Tiring ! But, Change is Also The Life !

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