Pakistan Leather Industry Explores New Measures For Environmental Protection And Implements Sustainable Development

< p > Punjab, Pakistan Province, < a target= "_blank" href= "//www.sjfzxm.com/" > leather < /a > industry hopes that the national environmental quality standards can be relaxed for at least 3 years, so as to bring positive changes to the environmental improvement in the province, experts say.

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< p > leather processing industry, especially tanneries, has been condemned for polluting the environment because of the untreated wastewater. The main reason is that the government of Pakistan is not firm enough on this issue.

However, some a href= "//www.sjfzxm.com/news/" tanneries in Punjab province < /a > to meet the requirements of international buyers, efforts have been made to build their own wastewater treatment plants.

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< p > > a href= "//www.sjfzxm.com/news/index_c.asp" > leather industry < /a > is the third largest export industry in Pakistan, which occupies an important position.

In the past five years, due to the lack of support policies, the leather industry's exports continued to decline.

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< p > Agha Saiddain, chairman of the Pakistan Leather Association, said that at the recent meeting, the association submitted the environmental protection issue facing the leather industry to Col Shuja Khanzada, the Minister of environmental protection of the province.

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< p > "we can ensure that we fully support the government to keep our country clean, especially in Punjab Pakistan the largest pollute Province," he said.

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< p > interestingly, the government's careless attitude towards environmental protection also appears in policy decisions.

When the government introduced the strategic trade policy framework (STPF) 2009-12, it was mentioned that the tannery was allowed to build its own sewage treatment plant. However, in STPF2012-15, the government did not mention any relevant policies.

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< p > Pakistan 80%, < a href= "//www.sjfzxm.com" > leather export < /a > all come from private tanneries.

These tanneries are produced together and are not equipped with centralized sewage treatment plants.

Therefore, basically every large and medium-sized tannery needs to build a sewage treatment plant which is in line with the national environmental quality standards.

The standard is drawn up according to the requirements of the 1997 Pakistan Environmental Protection Ordinance and the 2012 Punjab environmental protection agency.

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< p > Saiddain says that without the restriction of environmental regulations, leather exports can not grow.

Recently, all the big brands including IKEA, WAL-MART, Gucci, Louis Weedon, Levi's and other brands have set up their own sewage treatment plants to meet the national environmental quality standards.

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< p > the Pakistan tanning Association firmly believes that the continuation of the additional allowance will be used to build an independent sewage treatment plant for large and medium-sized tanneries. It will not only increase the export of Pakistan leather industry, but also create a pollution-free environment.

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< p > Saiddain believes that if the national environmental quality standards can be implemented in the next three years, the implementation of 30% to 40% will bring an immeasurable positive impact on the environment of Punjab province.

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< p > "initially, < a href=" //www.sjfzxm.com "> tannery < /a > may be required to filter all solid waste and sludge before discharge.

In this way, we have completed 70% to 75% of the national environmental quality standards, and we will foresee a completely different Punjab Province in the next three years.

He said.

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After P > three years, the national environmental quality standards may gradually tighten up, and all industrial waste water needs to be filtered.

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< p > in Pakistan, all the sewage treatment plants treat the sewage in an ecological way. They need continuous ventilation to create a biological stack, so that the toxic substances can be absorbed and absorbed, so that the water flowing out of the drainage pipeline becomes clear and conforms to the requirements of the national environmental quality standards.

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< p > Saiddain says if continuous ventilation is needed, there is a need for a continuous supply of power. Obviously, it will not be possible in the next three to four years.

The current requirement is to relax the standard in the next three years and complete the requirement of 30% to 40% until the energy crisis can be solved.

Moreover, national environmental quality standards need to be realistic.

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< p > compared with higher per capita income countries such as Czech Republic and Costa Rica, the chemical oxygen demand of China, India and Nepal is 300 micrograms / liter, 250 micrograms / liter and 250 micrograms per liter respectively.

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< p > according to the Pakistan national quality standard, if the chemical oxygen demand is 150 mg / liter, it will be fatal to the export industry.

It is necessary to increase the demand for chemical oxygen to 300 mg / L. correspondingly, other parameters need to be more realistic.

He said.

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< p > if there is no government landfill near the industrial area for landfill solid waste, the wastewater treatment plant will become meaningless, and the whole world will be like this.

Landfill sites are usually provided by the government.

"We request that the government decide to provide landfill address for industrial solid waste as soon as possible."

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< p > besides, the Punjab provincial government may not allow any private housing to be built near the industrial area.

In addition, for health and safety, < /p >

No private homes or homes are allowed near the industrial wastewater discharge area, P.

In industrial areas, a residential area will be built independently for workers.

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< p > Saiddain said that it is necessary to establish environmental awareness in the whole industry, such as enterprises to comply with the national environmental quality standards, get the "green Award" or other preferential treatment.

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< p > other incentive measures usually refer to economic preferences, including tax exemption, free electricity and gas charges, or 10% of electricity and gas prices, or less than 5% annual income tax, exemption from 25% export tax, free pportation of solid waste to landfill sites, and consideration of creating competitiveness and recognition for enterprises in the industry.

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< p > the government may provide land for the leather industrial park and all the "a href=" //www.sjfzxm.com "small tannery" < /a > for the construction of supporting wastewater treatment plants.

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< p > the environmental protection department may appoint technical personnel to provide advisory support to small and medium-sized enterprises which are unable to afford professional consultancy fees.

In the next three years, Pakistan's environmental protection department will pform its role from a regulator into a consultant role, he said.

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