GREEN SUSTAINABILITY - ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

At christshearlings we are proud of the CHRIST environmental policy.
The factories have an environmental management policy that is in accordance with top European standards.

Contrary to the typical construction process, CHRIST first built a water treatment plant before establishing its tannery.

In the manufacturing stages a high level of quality control ensures that the best use is made of hides and skins as well as the chemicals required in their conversion into leather.

The tannery’s effluents are treated in three different stages: Mechanically - through micro filters and aeration, chemically - by purification and finally by its corresponding biological process, in three large lagoons.  Proof of our success is the rich fauna that has chosen the last of these manmade lagoons, with its regenerated water, for its habitat.

As a result of our efforts CHRIST has won multiple international prizes for its unique treatment of industrial waste:

1989 - CHRIST was singled out for an award by the APA, an environmental organisation promoted by UNESCO, for its exemplary waste water clarification plant and working conditions.

1995 - CHRIST was the first tannery to receive the highest environmental protection award in Uruguay in the presence of the German ambassador and representatives of Greenpeace.

2000 - All Lambskins intended for garments as well as the leather produced in the Tannery receive the seal of approval from the leather testing and research institute Reutlingen. The seal states that our garments are manufactured in an environmentally friendly manner and tested for harmful substances.

The Tannery uses 120.000 litres of water each day that first has to be heated up to a temperature of 80°C. This used to require 3.600 litres of heating oil per day and corresponds to the annual oil consumption of a family with 4 persons that live in a 100 sqm apartment.
Since 2004 CHRIST has been pursuing the goal of meeting the entire energy needs of this tannery by using renewable energies.

In accordance with the environmental policies of the company and trying to use other energy resources, in 2004, CHRIST together with the German Development Co-operation, started utilizing solar energy with modern solar equipment. With its help the fuel consumption has been reduced by aprox. 20%. (from 3.600 to 3.000 litres of oil per day)

Since April 2007 600,000 eucalyptus trees over an area of 380 ha have ensured 100% supply of the tannery’s hot water needs. A high speed chipping machine produces wood chips and these chips not only help to optimise combustion but also reduce the wood needed by 5% in comparison with burning logs.

The naturally occurring CO2 emissions produced by the combustion process are neutralized by the new trees planted.
The Christ tannery thus produces zero CO2 emissions and has secured its supply of renewable energies for the next 50 years.