Isn leather better for the environment than synthetics?
As a renewable resource, leather seems like it should be green, but unfortunately this is not the case. Leather products are loaded with chemicals to keep them from decomposing in the buyer’s closet, and leather production pollutes the environment and squanders precious resources. Formaldehyde, coal-tar derivatives, and various oils, dyes, and finishes-some of them cyanide-based-are used to turn animal skins into finished leather goods. Most leather produced in North America is chrome-tanned. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, all wastes containing chromium are hazardous. Tannery effluent also contains large amounts of other pollutants, such as lime sludge, sulfides, and acids. Huge amounts of fossil fuels are consumed in livestock production, much of it for fertilizers to grow feed crops. By contrast, synthetic wearables account for a much smaller fraction of petroleum use.
