Jajmau in Uttar Pradesh is the heart of India’s leather industry, which has a highly toxic environmental footprint. Efforts are now underway to ensure the industry minimizes usage of harmful chemicals and decreases water consumption.
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00:00Sunita needs clean water, but she knows that all too often the local water supply is contaminated.
00:08Sometimes the water seems clean, but more often it comes out dirty, even green at times,
00:13and sometimes it smells strongly of sewage. People here are always falling sick with coughs,
00:18fevers and illnesses that never seem to go away. People always have to take medicines.
00:24Rakhimandi is a district in the city of Kanpur in central Uttar Pradesh, the heart of India's leather industry.
00:31Toxic chromium sludge is dumped in landfills where it contaminates the groundwater,
00:36posing a health risk to the local population.
00:39Leather production is a dirty business. Animal hides are treated with chromium salts to make them durable.
00:45Chromium salt is a salt of hydrochloric acid which is corrosive.
00:50And the production process uses high quantities of this heavy metal.
01:00A fifth of India's leather production comes from this region.
01:03There are hundreds of tanneries in this area alone, and they don't just pollute the groundwater.
01:09Some tanneries dump their toxic waste directly in the river Ganges, deliberately.
01:14This is thought to be the best solution.
01:20Unfortunately, the growth of this industry around the world has been in and around the river bodies.
01:28Because this was considered to be one of the largest water consuming industries of all types.
01:33So over a period of time, the concept was that dilution is the best means of taking care of your pollution.
01:41And discharge it into the river and it will get diluted.
01:44But with the population increase, what has happened is that the river contamination has ended up contaminating our drinking water systems.
01:54Every day the workers here put their health at risk.
01:57They often work without any protection.
01:59Contact with chromium 3 chloride, the scientific name for chromium salt,
02:04can result in skin rashes, itching and respiratory problems.
02:0831-year-old Wasid Ali has been working with the toxic tanning agents for half his life.
02:23The salt makes the skin on our hands blister.
02:26Look at these burns.
02:27We have to work without safety gear and even small injuries can lead to serious infections.
02:33A friend of mine died recently.
02:35He worked with lime.
02:37Over time it damaged his lungs.
02:39Doctors said he developed a liver problem too.
02:47The city of Hannau is an hour's drive away.
02:49The tannery on the banks of the Ganges has been operating for 30 years.
02:54Managing Director Taj Alam is trying to make production more environmentally friendly.
02:59Meat scraps from the leather are sold to pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies to use in gelatin production.
03:06Here particles from the animal skins are used to make manure.
03:09The machine that separates all the substances is highly efficient.
03:16This machine is known as a lime water recycling machine.
03:20It recycles and reuses lime water for relining purposes.
03:26So we save about 600 Kg of water per annum by doing this.
03:36He has also dispensed with toxic chrome salt and other metals in the tanning process
03:40and only produces vegetable tanned leather.
03:45So we use tanning extracts from trees like cobracho, mimosa, chestnut, cambier.
03:51There are different extracts that come directly from the tree.
03:54They are treated by chemical companies.
03:57Most of them come from South America.
03:59So yeah, overall the quality of leather is enhanced.
04:03The disadvantage is that natural tanning agents are much more expensive than chromium.
04:08Tanneries in Kanpur are now also obliged to recycle wastewater.
04:13Taj Alam joined forces with other local tanneries to set up a wastewater treatment plant
04:18with the aim of making 80% reusable.
04:26This is our upgraded form of effluent treatment plant.
04:30It's a primary plant.
04:31And after the primary treatment, we do the electro-oxidation and electro-coagulation
04:39that further reduces the organic load of the pollutants in the effluent.
04:45And then it is discharged to the common effluent treatment plant,
04:49which is about two kilometres away from here,
04:51through the underground conveyance system.
04:55The government wants tanneries to become more environmentally friendly.
04:58But this means these businesses have to produce much less than they could.
05:02Otherwise, there are risk fines.
05:06Back to the many small tanneries on the outskirt of Kanpur.
05:09A state-sponsored sewage treatment plant for tanneries has just begun operating here.
05:14Now, the wastewater goes through a purification process before it reaches the Ganges.
05:27The unique aspect of this project is that the chrome,
05:30which used to mix with the effluent, is now separated within the tannery itself.
05:35It is then sent to a separate plant via tankers.
05:39And this plant houses India's largest chromium recovery unit
05:43with a capacity of 900 KLD.
05:50The Indian government is investing millions in making the leather industry more sustainable.
05:55But many small tanneries have given up,
05:57unable to raise the necessary financial investment
06:00and because they can't afford to work below capacity.