More than 350 guests attended the official opening of ISA Tan Tec’s new ‘eco’ tannery in Vietnam at the end of January. Among the guests were Conrad Cappell, consul general of Germany, and Aneta Nikolova, environmental affairs officer at UNESCAP (the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific).

The team at the tannery, led by CEO Tom Schneider, hopes to set new standards in terms of environment and social responsibility as it produces leather at the site. It has found various ways to do this including the use of renewable energy and making use of waste heat generated during production. A windmill is used to pump water and wastewater is cleaned in an engineered wetland and subsequently reused. The tannery also collects rainwater for use in production and water is heated in a solar thermal system that does not produce CO2 emissions. A half-open bamboo wall provides natural cooling and a pleasant temperature inside the production building.

“For many years, we have been working on the vision of fundamentally overhauling leather production in a bid to make it green. We have now achieved that goal. With this tannery, we show how economic success goes hand-in-hand with ecologically and socially sustainable economic practices,” says Mr Schneider.

At the new tannery, 250 employees will treat 20 million square-feet of leather each year for customers such as Timberland, New Balance, Keen, Patagonia and Merrell.

Mr Schneider added: “We know that many of our friends share our vision. Without the generous support of government officials from both international and local community, the science and financial sectors, we would not have been able to achieve our goals so fast and comprehensively.”