Leather must claim its share of 5 million tonnes non-plastic prize
World Leather has made one of the features from the August-September 2020 edition of the magazine available to read on the magazine’s Medium account. The article is free to view and share at this link.
In this article, the World Leather team analyses the importance of Italy’s new leather law in the wider discussion about the competition the industry faces from synthetic alternatives, many of which are made from plastic.
The article draws the conclusion that it’s more important than ever to emphasise the differences between leather and plastic and celebrates the role Italy’s new law will play in preventing purveyors of plastic from pretending their products are leather.
In addition, it suggests that leather may be able to regain from plastic some of the ground it has lost in recent years.
A new report called ‘Breaking the Plastic Wave’ has said that, without urgent action, the annual flow of plastic waste into the oceans of the world will nearly triple by 2040 to 29 million tonnes per year, adding to the estimated 150 million tonnes of plastic waste already there.
Recycling more plastic than we do at the moment will be “critically important”, according to the report, but it estimated that it will not be possible to recycle more than about 40% of the 335 million tonnes of plastic being produced each year.
In addition, it suggested that consumers will be able to contribute to reducing the volumes of plastic waste flowing into the oceans in two ways. First, they can consume fewer of the products that are always, now, made from plastic. At the same time, when they buy products that are made from alternative materials as well as of plastic, they can state a preference for the alternative materials, the non-plastic ones.
It said there could be a demand for 5 million tonnes of these alternative materials per year. The leather industry will not be able supply all 5 million tonnes, but it must be able to claim a share of that total.
Clearer distinctions between leather and plastic, which the new Italian law will help bring about, will make this aim more achievable.
