UNIDO leather panel meets in Shanghai
24/09/2012
The largest single block of papers at the eighteenth panel were on the topic of education, with a lot of time being given to work by UNIDO in trying to develop materials, including visual training and e-learning tools. The meeting concluded with an agreement that relevant organisations (trade associations, R&D and training institutions, and international organisations) should coordinate their efforts in the preparation of learning programmes.
Much of the work of UNIDO over the last 30 years has focused on cleaner technologies, helping tanners with their processes and waste treatment. The panel was given detailed information on work in Bangladesh, in particular the work on waste water treatment, use of renewable energy in leather processing (especially solar water heating) and on a hair-saving process.
One outstanding issue which continues to concern the industry is the environmental problem caused by salt. This was the subject of a long discussion at the seventeenth UNIDO leather panel meeting, which took place in Addis Ababa in 2010, and remains unresolved. The reverse osmosis system in operation in Tamil Nadu in India was presented at the Shanghai meeting, but the high cost of energy and the disposal of the resultant imperfect salt was thought likely to make this impractical elsewhere. No conclusion was suggested although it was asked that in its work UNIDO continue to try to reduce or eliminate the use of salt where practical.
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