SWITCH-Asia

The Challenge

The leather industry is a fast growing and vital component of Bangladesh economy. However, the leather sector is very polluting and causes harmful impacts both on the environment and human health. A deep analysis to identify the needs and constraints of the sector shows that the core of the problem is that the leather industry in the country is dominated by SMEs with critical lack of expertise and capacity to respond to environmental problems.

The Objectives

The project promotes resource efficiency and sustainability of the leather sector in Bangladesh throughout the whole value chain of the leather related products such as footwear and other leather goods.

The Way Forward

• Implementing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to identify the key hotspots along the leather goods value chain and a Best SCP Practices Programme in 20 leather sector SMEs;
• Certification of 20 leather sector SMEs in Environmental Management Systems (ISO 14001);
• Creating a panel of 100 national experts in SCP practices and certification models to assure the continuation;
• Designing and developing Eco-label Scheme for leather footwear sector;
• Creating market demand of eco-labelled leather footwear among consumers and intermediate agents;
• Training of 50 policy-makers in sustainability practices;
• Facilitation of the access to “Green financing” for SMEs by engaging financial institutions;
• Disseminating of the outcomes through the elaboration and implementation of a “Communication and Visibility Plan”.

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