The problem
In the 21st century, global warming has become one of our leading problems. Overproduction in greenhouse gasses leads to global temperatures increasing each year causing climate change and more frequent natural disasters. One of the biggest contributors to this issue is the agricultural industry as the demand for animal products heavily contributes to the increase of greenhouse gasses. Scientists approached this situation by finding an alternative or a substitute for these products, creating “eco-leather” to substitute real leather to lessen the environmental damage of traditional leather.
Eco Leather
Eco leather is a term used to describe leather that doesn’t harm the environment as much as traditional leather. For example, scientists are able to combine food waste and polyurethane to create plant based eco leather. This process mainly consists of dehydrating fruits and combining them with a binding agent to create a durable and flexible piece of leather. However, due to the addition of polyurethane, the leather isn’t completely biodegradable and oftentimes is only 50% plant based. Although this may be the grim reality, there have been many discoveries that can create fully sustainable leather.
One of these discoveries is “natural biotechnology” where scientists use bacteria cellulose in the production of leather. They use a process of genetic engineering to code for specific pigments in the bacteria, giving them the ability to “dye” the leather without the use of toxic chemicals. Another way leather can be made using bacteria is directly using bacteria to make leather. This is called Celium feeding bacteria food waste and takes about 7-25 days depending on the desired thickness. After that, the bacteria goes through a chemical process to stabilize the cellular membrane. Despite this discovery, Celium still hasn't fully been developed as it is still in its research phase. The potential of Celium is being able to create leather on a mass scale while reducing space and lessening environmental impact.
The last form of Eco leather I will discuss is mycelium leather. Mycelium leather is derived from fungi, which already minimizes the space and resources needed to create this leather. Not only can it absorb carbon dioxide, it can be fully developed in 5 days, thus reducing its carbon footprint. All of these eco leathers share the common goal to reduce their carbon footprint and to be indistinguishable from real leather.
Conclusion
Even with modern science, it is still very hard to find alternatives that can fully replace real leather as many consumers do not accept alternatives only wanting products made from real authentic leather. This can be seen in luxury handbags and clothing, as their value comes from their use of authentic animal hide and leather. Therefore the best solution to the ecological impact from leather is to not purchase leather at all.
References
Raman, Jegadeesh et al. “Mycofabrication of Mycelium-Based Leather from Brown-Rot Fungi.” Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) vol. 8,3 317. 19 Mar. 2022, doi:10.3390/jof8030317
Bucher, Melina. “Vegan Leather Guide 1: Monomers.” Melina Bucher, 19 Jan. 2024, melinabucher.com/blogs/stories/vegan-leather-guide-1.
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