Implementation and Scalability of Circular Practices in the Leather Tanning Industry: Evaluation of a Colombian Tannery

Paula Barco and Bart Hoof ()
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Paula Barco: Researcher Industrial Engineering of the Universidad de los Andes
Bart Hoof: Associate professor School of Management of the Universidad de los Andes

Chapter Chapter 15 in Towards a Circular Economy, 2022, pp 263-280 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The leather industry plays an important role in the circular economy as it reuses the by-products of the meat industry and the generation of high-impact waste streams in the production process. In the long term, the resource-intensive production model of a tannery, using high volumes of water, heavy metals, and discharging organic waste and sewage, is unsustainable. In contrast, a circular economy (CE) approach, based on the optimization of resources and comprehensive improvement of systems, presents opportunities to improve resource efficiency and related environmental sustainability, of the tannery industry. This chapter identifies circular practices and potentially scalable technologies in tanneries by analyzing their technological, economic, and organizational viability. A Colombian tannery firm representative for the small- and medium-sized enterprises in the sector is used as a case for evaluation. Recommendations are made for scaling circularity models in tanneries in Colombia and other countries with similar conditions.

Keywords: Circular economy; Tanneries; Sewage; Organizational viability of the circular economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:csrchp:978-3-030-94293-9_15

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-94293-9_15

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