Recycling:Reduce , Reuse and Recycle

Fleshing wastes are generated from tanneries during leather processing. These wastes contain a significant quantity of protein and fat and currently being wasted into dumping sites or in open areas, consequently creating the fleshing waste disposal as a major environmental problem of the tanning industries throughout the world. The objective of this work is to develop fat liquor cum retanning agent from the fleshing waste. The fat extracted from the fleshing was characterized for iodine, saponification and acid value. The fleshing hydrolysate was characterized for the degree of hydrolysis, solid content,molecular weight, particle size, and zeta potential measurement. The leathers were not found to be greasy, indicating that the product penetrated into the leather matrix. The particle size of the prepared product fell down in the range of the commercially available retanning agents. The leather physical characterization with this new product was compared with that of control leather processed with commercial agent almost the same. Organoleptic properties were evaluated by experts and found to be on par with that of the control leathers. This study proves that the protein and fat from fleshing wastes can be utilized to make a beneficial product and also answers the disposal problem associated with the solid waste generated from tanning industries