Tanneries need to go green

SIALKOT: “There is a dire need to promote Green Productivity Concept Methodology, a low cost Tannery Waste Treatment (TWT) system and its sustainable development in the district as all leather manufacturing industrial units and tanneries require upgrades,” said former Pakistan Gloves Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PGMEA) chairperson Muhammad Anwar Butt.

Butt said that the introduction of new techniques in Sialkot’s leather industrial units and tanneries was vital for the survival, promotion and expansion of the industry to keep it at par with World Trade Organization (WTO) standards. The Green Productivity System is being implemented throughout the world to help curb the menace of industrial pollution and reducing the tanneries effluent wastage. “No one can be absolved from responsibility when it comes to the environment, and implementing Green Productivity protocol is essential in this regard,” he added.

Muhammad Anwar Butt revealed that although Sialkot exporters were quality conscious, they lacked awareness about environment protection. “Adopting international standards is essential to ensure that the industry was in line with ‘green goals’,” he said. “The leather products manufacturing industrial units emit both waste and smoke that is extremely toxic for the environment, and this is leading to several international markets boycotting out products, which are of otherwise impeccable quality,” he said, adding that in order to compete in the international market, the industry needed to branch out and alter its traditional approach.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14^th, 2010.