Fujian tanneries to close
China’s Fujian provincial environmental protection authority said on October 10 that a new pollution control programme will be launched in the region.
A number of non-complicit small-scale tanneries in the cities of Fuzhou, Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and Putian are expected to close in the near future. Polluting tanneries with a production capacity of less than 30,000 pieces of cow leather or equivalent will be the first to close, with those producing fewer than 100,000 pieces to be eliminated by 2012 and those producing fewer than 300,000 pieces to be closed by 2015.
The authority is trying to persuade tanneries to move to specially designed leather zones where proper effluent systems have been established and where pollution is kept to a minimum. These zones are also easier to inspect.
