HKRITA and H&M Foundation reveal reProLeather to make recycled leather greener
A new initiative to make recycled leather much greener has been unveiled via a project supported by the H&M Foundation and developed by the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA). HKRITA is now seeking industry partners to optimize production properties and enhance functions, paving the way for improved industry applicability in the future.
Traditional recycled leather combines shredded scraps and residual leather fibers with synthetic, non-biodegradable binders. Much of it contains harmful chemical residues, such as chromium VI, which result from the tanning process. These chemical residuals are carried through in the conventional recycling process.
reProLeather is a recycled leather system that separates, categorizes, and recycles post-consumer leather products into useful raw materials for the manufacturing of new products. It is carried out in two steps, beginning with shredding a whole post-consumer leather product into pieces until leather fibers of high purity are obtained, and removing free chromium by transforming it into a soluble salt or complex compound.
Then the separated leather fibers react with bio-based binders such as sugar or protein under mild conditions, and collagen fibers become interconnected and form a new leather. Regenerated leather obtained with such a novel bio-based approach is water-resistant and biodegradable, resulting in a virtuous circle for leather recycling.
