Gruppo Dani launches Zero Impact leather at Milan furniture show
16/04/2015
Zero Impact is as the result of ten years’ research, the Arzignano-based leather producer has said, aimed at reducing environmental impact at every production stage along the way. Rather than a new range of products, it says Zero Impact is “an icon of our corporate philosophy” and “a milestone in sustainability”.
For example, detailed work to measure the carbon emissions of its leathers allowed Gruppo Dani to reduce those emissions by 5%. Taking this a stage further, with the launch of the Zero Impact project, it has announced that it will now offset all of its carbon emissions by helping to fund a range of reforestation projects.
In addition, Gruppo Dani points out that Zero Impact leather is chrome- and heavy metal-free and complies with the specification ISO15987, which requires that the sum of all the heavy metal contained in the leather must not exceed 0.1%. The company has developed new heavy metal-free tanning technology, based on the use of enzymes and polysaccharides. It says the new system produces leather with the same physical and mechanical characteristics as leather processed using more widespread production methods.
Major technological innovations it points to on the road to Zero Impact tanning also include an oxidative unhairing operation that uses hydrogen peroxide within a special polypropylene drum. This featured in the detailed report that World Leather prepared on Gruppo Dani in 2012 for the third Tannery of the Year programme, in which the group won a Highly Commended Award for Europe. It also featured in a technical paper that World Leather ran in October-November 2013. Now working as what Gruppo Dani describes as a “semi-industrial” process, it will begin working in the group on a fully industrial scale within the next few years.
Image shows a Gamma sofa.
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