How To Eliminate The Public'S Misunderstanding Of Leather Pollution (II)

On May 12, 2010, the China Leather Association convened the first meeting of the members of the "Environmental Protection and Self discipline Action Team of the Tanning Industry" in Beijing. In addition to responding to the national call and promising to all sectors of the society to meet the energy conservation and emission reduction goals of the "11th Five Year Plan", the self-discipline team also focused on how to eliminate the misunderstanding of the public on the leather industry, and make ecological leather The concept of green tanning is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, creating a more harmonious public opinion environment for the survival and development of the tanning industry.

　　 Tannery pollution Why is it exaggerated

Zhang Shuhua, President of China Leather Association, summed up three reasons for the public's major misunderstanding of leather industry pollution at the "Self discipline Group" meeting:

First, because of historical reasons. In ancient China, there is a saying that three cobblers are the best, Zhuge Liang is the best. Many ordinary people unconsciously equate "leather" with "stink". Since most of the raw materials of the leather industry come from the by-products of livestock slaughtering, it is inevitable to have an unpleasant smell in the process of storage, transportation and processing. Especially for a long time after human beings entered the civilized society, the leather processing level is at a relatively primitive primary stage, with simple processing technology, simple processing equipment, low purity of raw materials and many impurities, This phenomenon lasted until the mid-19th century, when people invented chrome tanning, and then began to bring the leather industry into the industrial era. In China, however, the modern leather industry began to take shape after liberation, and it was not until the reform and opening up that it ushered in a prosperous period of vigorous development. Most people's understanding of the leather industry remained in the derogatory terms of "dirty, disorderly and smelly". Until today, its negative impact cannot be completely eliminated.

Second, the industry itself has defects. This is a problem that Chinese tanning colleagues have to face up to. Since the rise of China's tanning industry caught up with the golden age of China's economic boom, the entry threshold of the tanning industry has been greatly reduced. In some old bases, people with a little savings want to invest in the establishment of factories, and can build a drum in their own yard to make leather. Due to the lack of experience, industrial planning and the idea of centralized production and management, many small tanneries in the tanning bases are everywhere, small in scale, disorderly in layout, and scattered in many pollution points. In Hebei, Zhejiang and other places, tanning areas are even mixed up among residential areas. Everyday, people can hear and see the pollution caused by the lack of pollution control concept at the beginning of the leather industry. In some places, the sewage discharge of these small workshops has led to serious pollution of groundwater, and the quality of drinking water is not up to standard, which has seriously affected the lives of people. Such extreme cases, It further worsened the image of the tanning industry in the eyes of the people.

Third, lax awareness of environmental protection in the period of rapid development has produced bitter results. At the initial stage of industrial development, Tanning industry The small and scattered characteristics have laid a hidden danger for pollution control. What's more, the whole society was highly pursuing economic growth at that time, focusing on GDP and tax revenue. The implementation of environmental protection provisions by government departments was very loose. In order to introduce more funds and attract larger projects, At this time, the local government acted as a protective umbrella for the disorderly emission of pollution by many enterprises. The leather industry has ushered in a golden age of rapid development in such an environment. While creating huge wealth, the "environmental protection" string that should have been tight in the mind has been loose, which has sowed bitter fruit for the later development dilemma. In Wenzhou, an old tanner who has been engaged in the leather industry for many years once sincerely sighed: "This is a problem left over by history. We are actually paying for what we did in the 1980s and 1990s.".