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The Department of Environment has asked the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) to shut tanneries relocated to Savar from Dhaka’s Hazaribagh as they continue discharging wastewater containing heavy metals like chromium to the adjacent Dhaleshwari River.
It followed a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Environment’s recommendation on August 23. The committee directed the DoE to slap fines on the tannery estates for environmental pollution, said DoE Director General Md Ashraf Uddin.
Last week, the DoE issued a notice to the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC), which implemented the leather estate project.
Leather and leather goods exports fell to $942 million in fiscal year 2020-21 from $1.23 billion in FY16-17. The sector employs over 30,000 people.
DoE had issued several warnings and fined BSCIC and tanneries but the moves failed to rein in pollution. On November 4 last year, the DoE fined BSCIC Tk 4.63 crore for pollution.
The government took a Tk 1,078.71 crore project in 2003 to relocate 150 tanneries from Hazaribagh to Savar for environment-friendly production to boost leather export.
But tannery owners claimed that the relocation had affected their business as the government agency could not check pollution.
Abdul Awal, a Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leathergoods and Footwear Exporters’ Association (BFLLFEA) director, told The Business Post that BSCIC was responsible for both the Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) and dumping yard, not tanners.
“Environmental pollution continued as the CETP was not functioning properly and there were inadequate solid waste dumping facilities,” he said.
If the government shut tanneries, it should compensate tanners with Tk 7,000 crore they have invested, Awal said, noting that shutting tanneries during the peak season would destroy the industry.
BFLLFEA officials said some 80 per cent of the total rawhides are collected after Eid-ul-Azha and most of them are exported to European and American countries.
Tanners said that big brands were not giving them fair prices as Bangladesh failed to meet the requirements set by the Leather Working Group (LWG).
LWG is a platform comprising brands, manufacturers, suppliers, NGOs, and end-users to develop and maintain a protocol that assesses leather manufacturers’ environmental compliance and performance capabilities and promotes sustainable and appropriate environmental business practices within the leather industry.
But BSCIC officials said that tannery owners were responsible for the pollution because CETP could not be functional because of their misuse.
BSCIC General Manager and immediate-past project director of tannery estate Jitendra Nath Paul told The Business Post that processing a ton of rawhide needs 30 tonnes of water.
“But tanners use three times more water, creating an overflow that causes pollution,” he said, adding that tanners did not install the required facilities.
Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA) General Secretary Sharif Jamil said that tanneries, which once polluted the capital’s Buriganga River, are now polluting its upstream Dhaleshwari River.
“It is a combined failure of government and tannery, but the environment is suffering,” he said, demanding to shut the tanneries if they couldn’t stop pollution.
BUET Professor Delwar Hossain, the consultation team leader for the tannery project, said CETP capacity was estimated to be 25,000 cubic metres daily but the tanneries there produce as high as 38,000 cubic metres.
Besides, the tanneries produce 80 to 100 tonnes of solid wastes daily during the off-peak time while the wastes exceed 200 tonnes during the peak season.
The planned CETP completion missed at least eight deadlines and cannot properly treat wastewater.
Tanners alleged that most big buyers suspended leather purchases from Bangladesh due to pollution from the tannery park, further intensifying the crisis in the industry.
As a result, rawhide prices plunged. Low prices forced many people to dump a huge amount of rawhides last year.
