Eco-labeling

The range of products for which Eco-labels are available is continuously... 

This chapter will give an overview of recent international trends and initiatives regarding chemicals in leather and articles containing leather. That includes the identification of chemicals in the produced leather that are common on restricted substance lists and present ongoing recent initiatives to control the impact from these chemicals including both legislative measures and initiatives from customers such as international brands or purchasing sectors and different eco-labels. 

Keywords Additives, Chemicals, Eco-label, Leather, Restricted substances, Tanning... 

There are several initiatives and actions in order to control and stimulate a more efficient chemical management in the tanning sector. The main incentives are environmental legislations and customer requirements. The customer requirement can be expressed as either eco-labels or restriction substance lists (RSL) of chemicals in the products developed by major brands or several industrial groups. 

Furthermore, many restriction lists and eco-labels will include chemicals on the SVHC list in their restriction lists and criteria for eco-labels. 

An eco-label is a logo that identifies a product that has met an environmentally preferable standard. It is not always obvious what an eco-label means, and there are... 

It is sometimes difficult for a tannery to decide which eco-label is suitable due to the high number of different schemes that exist on the market. In order for an eco-label to be successful, it has to be recognised and used for consumer items. It should also be noted that many of the eco-labels for leather are strongly textile oriented and the criteria are sometimes more relevant for the textile sector. 

The most relevant eco-labels for the leather industry are presented below. 

The Blue Angel is a German eco-label for products and services [7]. The eco-label was introduced in 1978 and was one of the first worldwide environmental labels. The Blue Angel is an official label since it is owned by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in Germany. The award criteria are established by the Federal Environmental Agency in Germany with the support of scientific institutes and the industry. 

The Blue Angel eco-labels for leather may be awarded to the product leather which has been manufactured in an environmentally friendly way, from the health point of view does not have an adverse impact on the living environment and does not contain any hazardous substances that would significantly impede recycling. 

The criteria for the Blue Angel eco-labels go beyond legal provisions. The Blue Angel eco-label includes a number of different criteria for leather which are related to the following ... 

The EU eco-label [8] was launched in 1992 when the European Community decided to develop a Europe-wide voluntary environmental scheme that consumers could trust. The EU eco-label covers a huge number of products and services. The criteria are developed by key experts in consultation with main stakeholders in order to decrease the environmental impacts over the entire life cycle of a product. The criteria are revised every 4 years in order to take new developments and knowledge into consideration. 

The EU eco-label that is relevant for the leather industry is the eco-label for footwear. The EU eco-label is given to consumer products. Leather is not in itself a consumer product, but criteria for leather are included in the criteria for footwear. The criteria can be found in Commission Decision of 9 July 2009 establishing the ecological criteria for the award of the Community eco-label for footwear (2009/563/EC). 

The Nordic eco-label is the official eco-label for the Nordic countries [9]. It was founded in 1989 and the aim is to provide customers with a tool (the Nordic eco-label logo) to help them choose among the best, environmental performing products on the market. The criteria are developed by using a life-cycle perspective. The Nordic eco-label has in total 63 product groups. 

The Nordic eco-label has developed criteria for leather based on environmental, health and quality requirements. The requirements are imposed on the production process, from the production of skins to the final leather products. The Nordic eco-label is to some extent coordinated with the European eco-label. The criteria for the Nordic eco-label for leather are currently in 2012 being revised. At the moment the Nordic eco-label for leather includes the following criteria regarding ... 

There are, as mentioned in the previous section, a number of eco-labels and product labels available on the market. Many of the requirements from different eco-labels and RSL are similar, and some of the restricted chemicals are the same in the different initiatives. A number of chemicals that very often are included in product labels and list of harmful substances are presented below. This section only describes some examples of chemicals that frequently are included in RSL, but other chemicals will also be briefly included. 

Most of the commercially available azo dyes do not break down to produce these forbidden amines. The European legislation which states that leather articles that come into contact with human skin should not contain any of the 22 aromatic amines in concentrations above 30 ppm can be found in Annex XVII [12] of REACH. Furthermore, most eco-labels and RSL have the same criteria. 

Furthermore, most eco-labels and restriction lists include PCP. PCP is also discussed in connection with the Stockholm Convention on POPs and may be restricted or forbidden worldwide through the Stockholm Convention in the future. 

Short-chained chlorinated paraffins (SCCP) are those with a chain length of C10-C13. EU Regulation 1907/2006 [12] restricts the marketing and sale of SCCP in preparations to a maximum of 1%. SCCP were mainly in the past used as fatliquors, but other alternatives are available in the market. The use of SCCP is also restricted by many eco-labels and RSL. 

The use of NPE is highly restricted in the EU but can still be found in leather products imported from outside the EU. However, most eco-labels and restricted substance lists restrict the use of NPE in the leather production. 

Several other chemicals are often included in different RSU or eco-labels. Examples of metals often included are lead, cadmium and arsenic. Head and cadmium may still be used as metal complex dyes but have in most cases been substituted. Metal complex dyes are often used to increase the fastness properties of leather, but metal complex dyes with lead and cadmium should be avoided. 

The use of biocides is in Europe controlled and regulated by the EU Biocidal Products Directive [15]. Registration of a biocide is expensive and only a few active biocide substances will in the future be available for the leather industry in the EU. The directive will include a list of active substances that are permitted to use by the leather industry (a so-called positive list). Many eco-labels and RSL does already today include restrictions of the use of some biocides. 

Perfluorinated chemicals such as PFOS and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) are usually restricted by brands and eco-labels. Furthermore, the EU regulates the content of PFOS in consumer products on the market. The use of PFOS and PFOA is also restricted by the Stockholm Convention on POPs although some exemptions exist. PFOS are still produced and used in several countries and can be used in the coating of leather. 

The main incentives for tanneries to implement a careful management of chemicals are environmental legislation and production specification lists developed by different customers. In addition, there are several voluntary eco-labels and product labels on the market. 

The Blaue Angel Eco-label, http //www.blauer-engel.de/en/index.php. Accessed 15 July 2012... 

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