This innovative process is carried out through the use of new DERMACOLOR‘s products which, if used in a controlled form based on a process validated by the company, allow you to guarantee leathers results comparable with the traditional process that can ensure reduction of environmental impacts and costs associated with their management by tanneries ( relevant stakeholders of the project).
It also guarantees the elimination of the pickel phase during which the tanning operators are subjected to exposure to dangerous chemicals (sulfuric acid or formic acid which, during the process, produce hydrogen sulphide) and therefore has the benefit of reduce the chemical risk of the traditional process without having a significant impact on the product. Everything points to the achievement of a process and a “best in class” leather that will completely revolutionize the sector maintaining environmental and social sustainability.
To offer a guide on the correct communication on sustainability issue, the company has decided to undertake a certification path toward ISO/TS17033 “Ethical Claims and supporting information” which governs the formulation of any type of ethical claim. The goal is to make robust and objective the communication regarding the sustainability of the company. All this happens thanks to the validation and verification of a certificator entity who is responsible for verifying the truthfulness of the data covered by the report.
Since 2019 the Company started the development of an innovative process line (D-LIGHT BLUE technology) with the aim of supporting tanneries in the creation of an innovative manufacturing cycle to obtain a product with the same technical and aesthetic performance as the traditional product, but with a lower impact on specific sustainability parameters related to the following aspects:
Objective of this study is to validate with objective evidences the aforementioned D-LIGHT BLUE process and, after the study and the verification of third part it is possible to state today: The D-LIGHT BLUE, leather manufacturing process, guaranteeing the technical performance of the product, compared to the traditional picket process allows:
From the figure it is clear that the project has mainly focused on comparing the “D-LIGHT BLUE” process, object of the innovation, and the pickle based technology of the traditional tannery. This process monitoring was performed by comparing the various aspects through:
a) the installation of dedicated meters aimed at directly and quantitatively measuring the energy savings resulting from the new technology;
b) the sampling of the waste waters deriving from the two processes and the analytical comparison of the derived chlorides and sulphates.
In the tanning process, great attention has always been paid to the processing phase of the PICKEL, which danger is essentially linked to the generation of H2S hydrogen sulphide (in the free space of the drum), potentially capable of causing serious damage (even fatal), in case of inhalation. This gas develops whenever the sulphides contained in the dermis of working leather and in the floats of the drums come into contact with acids or acid solutions (generally sulfuric and formic acid).
The new process, guaranteeing the development of innovative formulations, allows to reduce the risk of inhalation of hydrogen sulphide for operators in the sector, guaranteeing an improvement in working conditions and for the health and safety of operators and the reduction and greater simplicity for entrepreneurs in the sector, to manage the residual risks deriving from the processes having eliminated one of the most peculiar and high-impact factors of concern for the health of workers.
On an annual basis, the verification data of the claim will be updated and made public and we will be able to appreciate the ethical results of this new technology with ever greater representativeness.