Improving environmental and social conditions in the Tannery Industrial Estate in Savar, Bangladesh

The tanneries sector is critical to the Bangladesh economy, with the government categorising it as a priority sector. The industry was recently relocated to the Savar Tannery Industrial Estate as a result of rising criticism over environmentally destructive practices, such as a lack of proper waste management and industrial wastewater treatment facilities, the dumping of toxic waste that pollutes nearby water sources as well as the use of harmful chemicals and technologies. This new estate is located on the banks of the Dhaleshwari River at Jhauchar Village, in Tetuljhata Union of Savar. While this newly established estate has a central wastewater treatment plant, its operating capacity cannot keep up with the sheer volume of wastewater produced by the tanneries and environmentally destructive practices continue. As of 2018, the tanneries were discharging approximately 20,000 cubic meters of untreated effluents per day into the Dhaleshwari River.

These environmentally destructive practices result in a major influx of pollution into the Dhaleshwari River, a critical water source for downstream agriculture (for irrigation) and ecosystems, such as wetlands. Aside from the agricultural and environmental impacts, the pollution is also causing health problems for nearby communities. Many workers also lack personal protective equipment (PPE), and operate tools and machinery without adequate safety precautions. Workers and supervisors often suffer from skin and lung diseases, headaches, diarrhoea and fatigue.

Through this SMEP-funded project, the Ethical Trading Initiative, along with their sister company in Bangladesh and other consortium partners, aim to address this challenge. The project will focus on addressing key issues pertinent to the tanneries within the Tannery Industrial Estate in Savar and more broadly in Bangladesh, including:

1. the absence of incentives for tannery owners and other stakeholders to invest in minimising harm,
2. the lack of understanding, capacity, and control mechanisms to reduce harmful and polluting practices, and
3. the issue of poor coordination and awareness among local and international stakeholder groups in addressing environmental and social risks.

In doing so, the consortium aims to enhance the capabilities of 40 tanneries located in this estate, as well as those of the value chain partners, to mitigate the environmental and social impacts of leather manufacturing. The project aims to enable business growth for the individual tanneries through aligning control mechanisms with international standards, facilitating access to high-value markets and unlocking the potential to invest further in environmental and decent work.

The project aims to achieve the following objectives:

To reduce the environmental and social impacts of tanneries in the Savar Tannery Estate, the project aims to:

1. Develop and embed Environmental and Social Management Systems (ESMS) in 40 tanneries to improve production efficiency. ESMS will be enabled by building the capacity of workers and management to understand and mitigate the environmental and social risks associated with each tannery production process.
2. Incentivise tannery owners to invest in risk reduction, while strengthening the capacity of stakeholders to monitor and influence the industry’s approach to risk reduction. This will be achieved by raising awareness of high value market requirements, networking with potential business partners and aligning stakeholders with international standards through the development of Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (HREDD) in the leather industry.
3. Align local and international networks in advocacy efforts to ensure forward-thinking infrastructure investments, improve the application of HREDD for sector-wide, global risk reduction, and engage potential supply chain partners in collaborative harm reduction initiatives.
4. Overall, by the end of the project, the project aims to reduce GHG emissions by 1,235 tCO2 annually in 40 tanneries’ main operations and to reduce their water consumption by more than 15%, energy consumption by more than 15% and use of restricted substances by more than 15%.