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What determines compliance with cleaner production? An appraisal of the tanning industry in Sialkot, Pakistan

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Abstract

Leather tanneries which produce significant amounts of solid waste, effluents, and emissions are a major contributor to industrial waste. A cleaner production program was launched by the government of Pakistan to implement the cleaner production measures for tanneries of Sialkot from 1999 to 2005. The main objective of this study is to identify the impact of a cleaner production program, along with other determinants of a cleaner production in the leather industry. The study analyses firm-level primary data collected from leather tanneries in Sialkot. The primary data were collected from tanneries in Sialkot. The econometric analysis is conducted using the Poisson regression analysis. Overall results show that there is no significant impact of cleaner production in 2015, while the panel data results indicate that the effect of cleaner production support by CPC on cleaner production practices diminished once the support came to an end. The other main factor is firm size, which indicates the financial position of the firm; international and regulator pressures are major determinants of the adoption of cleaner production measures. The analysis also indicates that there is higher probability of large firms adopting a cleaner production in comparison with small ones. Export orientation of firms is another important determinant of cleaner production. The enforcement of the environment compliance laws also has positive effect. The compliance with cleaner production measures is quite low, at 6.4 out of 19 cleaner production practice measures. There is a need to adopt measures that are environmentally friendly and are favorable towards both labor health and product quality, which are important for the sustainable growth of the tanning industry.

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Notes

  1. Cleaner production intends to minimize waste and emissions during the production process while end-of-pipe treatment removes already formed contaminants from a stream of air, water, or waste. The end-of-pipe treatment is normally implemented as the last stage of a process before the stream is disposed of or delivered.

  2. The raw hide which is extracted from the animal is converted first into wet blue and then into finished leather via the tanning process. In our sample, while some tanneries produced finished leather from raw hide, others produce finished leather from wet blue. Wet blue refers to a stage in the tanning process (which is not the final finished leather) in which the color of the leather becomes a pale blue color due to use of chromium.

  3. Data are available with authors and can be provided on request.

  4. Cleaner production intends to minimize waste and emissions during the production process while end-of-pipe treatment removes already formed contaminants from a stream of air, water, or waste. The end-of-pipe treatment is normally implemented as the last stage of a process before the stream is disposed of or delivered.

  5. Tanning units are tanneries that only produce leather from raw hide while leather processing units include tanneries as well as sections for the production of clothing and apparel, gloves, footwear, and other leather manufacturing.

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Acknowledgements

This study has been undertaken with the financial support provided by the South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE). We are indebted to Jean Marie Baland for his invaluable guidance. His contribution to bring the study to into its present shape was considerable. We are also thankful to Priya Shyamsundar for help with proposal development and encouragement at every stage of the study. We are also indebted to Eswaran Somanathan, Enamul Haq, Celine Nauges, Heman Lohano and Mani Nepal for their invaluable guidance and support during the course of research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Ihtsham Ul Haq Padda

  2. Preston University, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Muhammad Asim

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  1. Ihtsham Ul Haq Padda
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Correspondence to Ihtsham Ul Haq Padda.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

Appendix

Appendix

Table 8 Cleaner production measures (with benefits and costs) introduced in tanneries
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Table 9 Case studies of tanneries at Sialkot
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Padda, I.U.H., Asim, M. What determines compliance with cleaner production? An appraisal of the tanning industry in Sialkot, Pakistan. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 1733–1750 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-3717-0

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