The leather industry’s representative body in the European Union, COTANCE, has celebrated recognition that tanners in Catalonia have received for good practice in water management.

Igualada-based water treatment operator IDR takes wastewater from 28 leather manufacturers in the Catalan cluster as well as wastewater from other local industries and part of the local urban wastewater.

COTANCE said that IDR uses “an innovative biological system” and leaves the water “in conditions comparable to domestic wastewater”. The water then goes to a municipal wastewater plant and is returned to the environment.

IDR’s operation has received international recognition, as a case study in a seminar run by the United Nations Environment Programme and in a report by research and campaign body Global Water Intelligence.

In conclusion, COTANCE said examples such as this, and others in Italy and in Portugal, show that, in Europe, “wastewater from tanneries is treated to very high standards and its common effluent treatment plants showcase technical excellence”.

It said: “European tanners are moving decisively towards higher sustainability standards.”