COTANCE president calls for transparency on animal welfare
The acting president of COTANCE, Andreas Kindermann, has said leather manufacturers in Europe are still encountering resistance from the livestock sector when it comes to transparency and traceability in raw materials management.
Mr Kindermann, chief executive of Wollsdorf Leather, took part in a discussion on animal welfare, organised by multi-stakeholder group European Livestock Voice at the end of January.
He told the group: “The leather industry uses only a small part of the animal, the hide, when it becomes available at the end of the value chain. What our industry wants is for suppliers, at least, to fulfil the laws that are in place for animal welfare. It’s not nice-to-have; it’s mandatory. One way to make sure this is happening is to have transparency and traceability and, on this, we are still seeing some resistance.”
He said reducing the transportation of livestock would help improve transparency because the more animals are transported around the value chain, the more confusion it causes. He also said that using advanced technology such as blockchain to improve the way different players in the supply chain capture and share data would be good. “Other industries use this,” he said, “and we can use it too.”
He explained that the automotive, footwear and fashion brands that buy leather want reassurance from tanners that the animals from which the hides come have been treated fairly and in an environmentally responsible way. He pointed out that there can often be an economic benefit from treating animals well because the quality of the hides that come from these animals will be better and the material will be worth more. On the other hand, if the animals suffer skin disease, injuries or other problems, this is likely to have an impact on the value of the hide and of the leather tanners can make from it.
“Our customers see animal welfare as part of the same picture as carbon footprint and working conditions for employees,” he concluded. “They are looking at everything. We have to find ways of reassuring them that we are taking care of everything because that’s what they expect.”
