Reduction of environmental threats and increase of exportability of Bangladeshi leather products

January 2012

The additional implementation period of the RE-Tie project will be mainly used in two ways. On the one hand to further disseminate the achieved results on cleaner production in order to deepen the impact and on the other hand to support all stakeholders with regard to the upcoming relocation of the tanneries to the new Tannery Estate Dhaka in Savar.

After many years, the move to Savar will take place. The Ministry of Industries (MoI) signed a contract with a company to build the Central Effluent Treatment Plant, an important pre-requisite for the relocation. The MoI further requested the support of Re-Tie project and it was agreed that MoI will organize a mandatory seminar for tanneries that are to be relocated to Savar. During the seminar recommended technologies with benefits and technical requirements will be presented by Re-Tie project staff. Tentatively it was agreed organising the seminar at end of the 1st or beginning of 2nd quarter in 2012, meaning after the actual implementation period. Since the Ministry will be the inviting entity and the technical input will be delivered by the project, the whole sector will participate and therefore gain from the knowhow transfer.

September 2011

The SWITCH-Asia project Re-Tie Bangladesh: Reduction of environmental threats and increase of exportability of Bangladeshi leather products organised a study tour to Germany and Belgium as part of the export promotion activities of the project. The aim of the study tour was to initiate business contacts, present leather goods and shoe commercialisation, inform the participants about initiatives with regard to environmental and social compliance and visit factories for shoe and leather products in Germany and visit the European Commission. 16 entrepreneurs from member companies of the three Bangladeshi project partners DCCI, BFLLFEA and BTA, as well as representatives of these Business Membership Organisations (BMOs) completed the study tour on 30th of September. Among the activities of the study, four have been explicitly meant for starting business collaboration. Two of them were visits of leather goods and show departments at the stores Galeria Kaufhof in Frankfurt (Germany) and Galeria Inno in Brussels (Belgium). In both cases the delegation met the managing director and discussed  all issues regarding product requirements. As a result, the entrepreneurs do now know, that they can send their company profiles to the head offices of the two department stores in order do a first step into this direction and Galeria Kaufhof even offered to visit the Bangladeshi exporters in case their company profiles meet the interests and requirements of Galeria Kaufhof. The other two meetings meant for starting business collaboration were individual meetings for shoe exporters with Mr. Federico Becchini from the Consorzio Toscana Shoe Components and with Mr. Gomez from company Neuville for leather goods exporters. Environmental and social compliance as a mean to do better business was an important topic. During the study tour the participants were confronted by all European speakers with this topic. Although some participants claimed that the main reason for still not complying with even the simplest standards, the European speakers uniquely considered this argument as an excuse, since many other developing countries proofed that concrete steps have be taken towards environmental and social compliancy. But it became also clear throughout the study tour that most of the participants realised that social and environmental issues will influence their business more and more and incorporating them will finally benefit their business and of course the country. They therefore appreciated that the invited speakers offered to support them. It will now depend on the entrepreneurs and BMOs if they make use of this offer.

July 2011
The EU funded project “Re-Tie Bangladesh: Reduction of environmental threats and increase of exportability of Bangladeshi leather products” is more and  more focusing on broadening its results. The main topic of a workshop on renewable energy was: Results achieved by the project. It aimed at tannery owners, managers, and technicians, was conducted by Ms. L. Cabeza, Mr. Sole and included presentations of the local experts Mr. Ghosh and Mr. Aniss. Among those results, the efficiency of the solar water heating units, installed at several tanneries, was further improved based on the recommendations prepared by international and local experts after an energy audit accomplished in the tanneries. In Bangladesh, where energy supply is not stable, simple but effective alternatives with renewable energy are becoming more and more recognised thru ReTie. The positive outcomes of the projects energy team, its findings and recommendations, will be presented in a technical paper at the XXXI World Congress of the International Union of Leather Technologists & Chemists Societies (IULTCS).

April 2011

The Re-Tie project awarded young leather technologists with funding for their projects and the best 3 will participate at an one week study tour to India.

The “Best Idea Award” (BIdA) was introduced by Re-Tie Project in late 2010 to encourage proposals, innovative ideas and small projects for cleaner production and other aspects of leather sector development from technicians, experts and others involved. There was a good response and a total of 13 project proposals were received, elaborated by 22 persons. 

On 6th of April a seminar was held at the  Bangladesh Leather Technology College at Hazaribag to present the submitted ideas. Some of the proposals were already implemented by then and the authors reported about the benefits achieved. The projects focused on all aspects of tanning industry – water conservation/management, Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S), working environment (e.g. noise), improved finishing system, medical care, solid waste treatment and better process. The participants were mainly local technicians,

but also students from the College and also scientists from the Leather Research Institute at Savar. In some cases the participants formed teams, especially in cases of more complex proposals. Mr. Rezaur Rahman (Technical Director of Bay Tanneries Ltd.), as one of the evaluators of the BIdA proposals, appreciated this initiative of Re-Tie project to upgrade the skills of local technicians enabling them to implement up-to-date technology by themselves.

After the evaluation, the following ideas were selected as best: 1. Preparing and printing of a Bengali OH&S booklet and posters; 2. Instalment of safety guards at machineries and electric points; and 3. Booklet for better beam house operation in tanneries.

 January 2011

Re-Tie, under the EU SWITCH Asia programme, launched a competition for best ideas for Clean Production (CP) and improved Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S).

January 2011

The leather fair promises to be an important event to bring together various stakeholders in the leather industry and to act as a platform to enable them to link their efforts on CP and OH&S, and in improving the exportability of leather and leather products. The Leather Trade Fair will take place in Dhaka at the end of June 2011.

December 2010

The EU funded project “Re-Tie Bangladesh: Reduction of environmental threats and increase of exportability of Bangladeshi leather products” under the EU SWITCHAsia programme will procure the modernisation of machinery and equipment of several tanneries in order to demonstrate that investment in environmental friendly technology leads to economic success through higher quality and more efficiency.

Already supplied during last week of December were 6 solar panels at a total cost of around BDT 200,000 for installing at 3 Hazaribagh tanneries namely Lien Tannery, Ayub Brothers, and MB Tannery. Each of these solar panels is capable of heating more than 200 litres per day. The installation was done at aforementioned tanneries and cost of installation and maintenance is being paid by the tanneries themselves. This kind of cost sharing shows an active interest by the leather sector for obtaining energy saving and environment friendly technology and also the success of Re-Tie project’s intervention in this area.

10 November 2010

The conference was very successful because it once again became clear that the leather sector of Bangladesh can have a bright future but only if all players work jointly hand in hand.The Industries Minister, Mr. Dilip Barua emphasised on the importance of the leather sector for Bangladesh and assured the support of the government for the tanners who are obliged to shift their production facilities from Hazaribagh to Savar in the near future.
Appreciating the role of leather industry in country’s economy, Barua said: “Leather sector with its export earnings is playing an important role in the economy. It’s an export-oriented heavy industry with huge number of  workers involved.”

Barua said green industrialisation is the top priority of the government and it wants knowledge-based hi-tech industry with zero pollution. “Sustainable and cleaner production has been a key issue for socio-economic development without creating negative impacts on environment. I feel happy that it’s one of the goals of Re-Tie project.”

The conference was mainly used to present the achievements with regard to cleaner production and occupational health and safety. One day before the conference activities like trade fair participation, export promotion guide and e-commerce platform for leather and leather products were discussed at a project planning session.

October 2010

In October 2010 UNIDO expert Mr. Cametti visited Hazaribagh and concentrated his work on two topics: Occupational Health and Safety (OHS), and finishing. After assessing the current status in the selected tanneries he prepared recommendations for improved finishing technologies. The outcome of the mission was very positive since all National UNIDO Experts and many technicians of the tanneries were directly involved. They took part in the preparation of new leather articles in the shop floor training and are now able to prepare new articles  themselves. Due to the improved quality of these products, the competiveness of the producing companies and the exportability of their new products are strengthened.

September 2010

One of the areas Re-Tie project partner UNIDO is working on is the reduction of BCS. Based on the results of tests conducted during the last mission of one international UNIDO expert together with several National UNIDO experts and leather technicians, the amount of BCS was reduced by 10-20% thanks to improved practice of chrome tanning. Also reduced by 80 % was the chrome content in applied tanning liquors. In addition to the considerable improvements towards cleaner production, the small and medium tanning enterprises will be able to benefit economically. They achieve a more uniform quality of their final product, mainly wet blue and  leather, and the costs for chemicals and the treatment of harmful effluents could be reduced. Another area of intervention is water management. With the installation of water meters and water mixing systems, accompanied with an awareness raising programme with tannery owners and technicians, the consumption of water could be reduced by 15-30%. UNIDO will also install an automatic water mixing system, make additional adjustments for drums in order to segregate streams and improve gears for better process control.

5 August 2010

The Programme Manager for Economic Cooperation from the Delegation of the
European Commission in Dhaka Mr. Jean Claude Malongo visited the new local office near Hazaribagh and several successful demonstrations implemented by the project. It was acknowledged that the Improved Lether Production project (Re-Tie) has been providing much needed support through awareness creation and technical cooperation. During the visit tannery owners emphasized the need for continuation and expansion of the support beyond the current phase of the  project to assist a successful transfer of the tanneries to Savar.

July 2010

The EU funded project “Re-Tie Bangladesh: Reduction of environmental threats and  increase of exportability of Bangladeshi leather products” under the SWITCH-Asia programme moves into its second half.

Since the project started in February 2009 a number of steps have been implemented and countable results achieved. In order to work successfully in a project with 6 partners from Asia and Europe it is a precondition that all partners and key persons involved are competent and eager to work towards the common goal. Within the Re-Tie project this is the case and will therefore

lead to a successful project. Among the results achieved so far should be highlighted that the project:

·  Has gained interest by policy makers like the Ministry of Industry,

·  Organised a high profile study tour to Italy and Germany,

·  Is seen as a competent partner of state departments responsible for the industry like BSCIC, · Developed and implements strategic plans for the local business membership organizations,

· Trained and employed three local experts as ‘group consultants’ who are facilitating the work of the small groups of entrepreneurs (sector units or nuclei),

· Provided seminars by international experts in the field of environmental technology,

· Trained, employs and coaches 10 local experts in different fields like cleaner production, occupational health and safety, corporate social responsibility etc.,

· Develops guidelines and manuals also on energy consumption and solid waste,

· Installed suitable pilot technology like solar water heating, self cleaning hair saving filter, chemical preparation  tanks, water meters etc.

· Developed a web site and other publication material etc.

1 July 2010

From 1st of July 2010 the new sequa project office is located at 3rd Floor, 96/2-D Moneshwar Road, Zigatola, Dhanmondi, Dhaka - 1209, Bangladesh, Tel: +880-2 9614425, Fax: +880-2 9614426; E-mail sshariar@yahoo.com. The new location is much closer to Hazaribagh and offers more work space and facilities than the previous office in Gulshan.

June 2010

In June 2010, the SWITCH -Asia Project "Improved Leather Production" (Re-Tie) organized a training for Banglashi tannery experts at the German Tanner’s School in Reutlingen. 15 technicians from different Dhakka tanneries attended the 2 weeks training. Experts in Reutlingen taught subjects including cleaner technology, water management, process control, solid waste management and OHS. Trainees  gained a lot of knowledge from the trainings. The evaluation showed an overall content level of 82%. SWITCH-Asia experts are sure the training will provoke a positive impact. Productions methods in the Bangaldeshi tannery sector are due to change - as the sector needs to leave the current premises close to residential areas. The move to a new area north of Dhakka will lead to an upgrade in enviromental technology and production methods thus the training came at the right time. 

March 2010

The Sustainable Leather Industry Project aims to promote cleaner production in Bangladesh’s leather industry. The SWITCH-Asia project works with associations and the Chamber of Commerce to reach out to the different tanneries. Beginning of March 2010, the project conducts a series of workshops to strengthen associations and the Chamber of Commerce. Together with its partners the project conducted need assessments to analyse the entry points for capacity building measures.

June 2011

The Re-Tie Bangladesh Project organised a one week summer school to India with the main topic on Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) which shall be constructed soon in Savar. From 31 May to 7 June 2011, 12 experts visited tanneries and common effluent treatment plants in Chennai and Kolkata in India. The study tours aimed at understanding initiatives of the Indian leather industry in tanneries’ pollution control and their efforts to comply with the environmental regulations prevailing in these locations.

The specialities of the locations visited ranged from: Small scale tanneries processing from raw to wetblue, arrangement for pre-treatment of tannery effluent prior to discharge of effluent to Central effluent Treatment Plants (CETP). The tour saw a measurement of volume of effluent and chrome recovery unit, another large CETP in Tamil Nadu and one of the forerunners of CETPs commissioned complete set of ZLD systems. They could learn about the use of treated tannery effluent for irrigation.

Mr. Abdul Hai, General Secretary Bangladesdh Tanners Association (BTA) expressed that the visits and the meetings were very useful and informative.  He congratulated the tanning industry and he expressed that he is keen to replicate similar initiatives of the industry, like implementation of cleaner processing and setting up CETPs in Bangladesh. He also expressed that the team will present the learning to the Government of Bangladesh, UNIDO and other funding partners and recommend utilisation of the expertise available in India in addressing the environmental issues of the industry in Bangladesh. He mentioned that BTA and BFLLFEA will invite the industry leaders from India for interaction with their counterparts and policy makers in Bangladesh.

The SWITCH-Asia project Re-Tie Bangladesh: Reduction of environmental threats and increase of exportability of Bangladeshi leather products organised a study tour to Germany and Belgium as part of the export promotion activities of the project. The aim of the study tour was to initiate business contacts, present leather goods and shoe commercialisation, inform the participants about initiatives with regard to environmental and social compliance and visit factories for shoe and leather products in Germany and visit the European Commission. 16 entrepreneurs from member companies of the three Bangladeshi project partners DCCI, BFLLFEA and BTA, as well as representatives of these Business Membership Organisations (BMOs) completed the study tour on 30th of September.

Business for Bangladeshi Exporters

Among the activities of the study, four have been explicitly meant for starting business collaboration. Two of them were visits of leather goods and show departments at the stores Galeria Kaufhof in Frankfurt (Germany) and Galeria Inno in Brussels (Belgium). In both cases the delegation met the managing director and discussed  all issues regarding product requirements. As a result, the entrepreneurs do now know, that they can send their company profiles to the head offices of the two department stores in order do a first step into this direction and Galeria Kaufhof even offered to visit the Bangladeshi exporters in case their company profiles meet the interests and requirements of Galeria Kaufhof. The other two meetings meant for starting business collaboration were individual meetings for shoe exporters with Mr. Federico Becchini from the Consorzio Toscana Shoe Components and with Mr. Gomez from company Neuville for leather goods exporters.

Environmental and social compliance as a mean to do better business

During the study tour the participants were confronted by all European speakers with this topic. Although some participants claimed that the main reason for still not complying with even the simplest standards, the European speakers uniquely considered this argument as an excuse, since many other developing countries proofed that concrete steps have be taken towards environmental and social compliancy. But it became also clear throughout the study tour that most of the participants realised that social and environmental issues will influence their business more and more and incorporating them will finally benefit their business and of course the country. They therefore appreciated that the invited speakers offered to support them. It will now depend on the entrepreneurs and BMOs if they make use of this offer.