Environmental protection

Leather is a natural product – of course we want to produce it as environmentally-friendly as possible! With terracare® the responsibility extends beyond production. To this purpose we pursue several approaches. We start with the well-thought out use of resources like water, chemicals and energy, but also personnel. terracare® leather is also especially low-pollution.

We avoid the use of critical substances in the production of our products. The current RS List shows you what these are.

Energy-conscious

In the last 5 years we have reduced our energy consumption by 15 % and CO₂ emissions by 50 % – a process on which we continue to work. We neutralise unavoidable CO₂ emissions in cooperation with global reforestation programmes. We generate our own power with combined heat and power plants (CHPs). These power plants of the newest generation are operated with gas, the fossil fuel with the lowest CO₂ emissions. We use the resulting heat for hot water and drying the leather.

We reduce our waste products and utilise them further. Many by-products of our work, such as lime trimmings or split, are valuable raw materials in other industries. Glue stock, for example, is transformed into power in biogas plants and fed into the public grid.

What also contributes to our positive environmental balance: we work together with partners in the region. Many of our employees come to work by bicycle or on foot. This means that everyone contributes on a daily basis.

Rich in water

Water is indispensable for the production of leather, but we use as little of it as possible and treat it in our own treatment system. Our waste water is chemically, mechanically and biologically purified in modern plants before it is returned to the natural hydrological cycle. Pollutants are filtered out and residues transformed compatibly.

We use water repeatedly and return it to our production cycle. The legally prescribed limit values are strictly observed in our production and constantly checked by the authorities. In recent years we were able to decisively reduce our water consumption through various measures – in some production stages by up to 80%.

Low pollution

We use as few chemicals as possible and ensure that they are as degradable as possible and originate from Germany or Western Europe. Manufacturers and consumers have grown more sensitive to this important topic; improved analysis processes enable more precise experiments. In many regions of the world, however, substances that have in the meantime here been classified as questionable are still used. Another reason for us to produce here in Germany.

Legislation in Germany and at the European level prescribes very strict rules for the use of chemicals. The limit as of which substances are classified as questionable or even dangerous is very low. For terracare® we implement statutory conditions before they become mandatory. The guidelines we set for ourselves are considerably stricter than the already very strict conditions of German legislation. In addition to this, we directly implement customer-specific wishes for the use of certain substances when this is technically possible.