Young Brunette Girl Undresses A Yellow Coat And Black Leather Pants Outdoors In The Winter

• the heavy use of polluting chemicals in the tanning process
• air pollution due to the transformation process (hydrogen sulfide during dehairing and ammonia during deliming, solvent vapors).
• Leather biodegrades slowly; it takes 25–40 years to decompose.
One tonne of hide or skin generally leads to the production of 20 to 80 m3 of wastewater including chromium levels of 100–400 mg/L, sulfide levels of 200–800 mg/L and high levels of fat and other solid wastes, as well as notable pathogen contamination. Pesticides are also often added for hide conservation during transport. With solid wastes representing up to 70% of the wet weight of the original hides, the tanning process comes at a considerable strain on water treatment installations.