To produce any kind of leather, more than 80% of the weight of a raw hide goes to waste. Traditionally, this goes to landfill.

At the same time, the process consumes a great deal of energy.

In 1995 (long before being "green" became fashionable) the Scottish Leather Group began looking for a more satisfactory solution to
our waste issue. It wasn't easy, it wasn't cheap, and, to be honest, most people thought we were a bit crazy.

The theory was quite simple. 100% of the waste from our tannery could be converted to thermal energy, which in turn could produce
more than enough energy to power our tannery. So we become energy sufficient, with nothing going to landfill.

The practice was rather more complex, demanding a lot of cutting edge thinking from our in-house experts, and a considerable
investment in terms of time and cost - 18 years and £6 million to be precise.

But we have succeeded, and our Thermal Energy Plant opened just outside Glasgow in May 2010. Paving the way towards Zero Waste
by 2015.

www.lowcarbonleather.com