The Challenge

Leather is one of our oldest materials, but making it creates a lot of waste. Only about 20-25% of the weight of raw cattle hide becomes leather (JRC, 2013). Processing one tonne of hides uses around 500 kg of chemicals and leaves roughly 600 kg of solid residues and 15,000-50,000 litres of wastewater (JRC, 2013). 

Between 80% and 90% of the world’s leather is tanned with chromium salts, so offcuts and shavings carry chromium with them (JRC, 2013). EU rules do not class this chromium(III) waste as hazardous (JRC, 2013), but burning chrome-tanned scraps produces ash with high levels of chromium(VI) (UNIDO, 2021). Poorly managed tannery waste can also contaminate soil and groundwater (JRC, 2013). In developing countries and under-developed countries, landfill is the main disposal route for solid tannery waste (Famielec, 2020).

The chemicals, machinery and processes used in tanning pose high risks to workers, especially in countries where laws are poorly enforced (UNIDO, 2021). Toxic hydrogen sulphide gas causes more tannery deaths than any other hazard, while skin disease is a common harm (UNIDO, 2021).

Europe faces its own pressures. EU cattle-hide tanneries produce an estimated 400,000 tonnes of wastewater sludge a year, plus a similar amount of other solid residues (JRC, 2013). Raw materials make up 50-70% of tannery production costs (JRC, 2013), so every discarded offcut is money lost. Pressure is also building at the end of a leather product’s life. Under the revised Waste Framework Directive, every EU country must, by April 2028, make producers of clothing, accessories and footwear, including leather items, pay to collect, sort and recycle them (European Parliament and Council of the EU, 2025).

The Circular Solution

Gen Phoenix is a materials company based in Peterborough, England, that has been turning waste into new materials since 2007 (Gen Phoenix, n.d.a; Gen Phoenix, n.d.b). It collects leather offcuts from tanneries and factory floors, as well as products at the end of their life (Gen Phoenix, n.d.a). These are milled into soft fibres and pressed into sheets of fibre web. Two sheets are then bonded to a textile core using only high-pressure water, 95% of which is recycled on site. Finally, the material is oiled, buffed and coated (Gen Phoenix, n.d.a). It is supplied on ready-to-cut rolls, and the main plant can make up to 6 million m² a year (Gen Phoenix, n.d.b; Gen Phoenix, n.d.c).

Gen Phoenix makes three material families. ELeather, the original product, has been used across buses, trains and aircraft for over 15 years; its Essence range is the company’s main aviation material (Gen Phoenix, n.d.b; Gen Phoenix, n.d.c). Aurora uses chrome-tanned “wet blue” offcuts from European tanneries for fashion, footwear and car interiors (Gen Phoenix, n.d.d; JRC, 2013). Helios, launched in 2024, takes finished leather scraps and used post-consumer and industrial materials, so old products can become new material (Gen Phoenix, n.d.d; Gen Phoenix, 2024).

The Circular Dress Cover, unveiled in 2024 with seat-cover maker Sabeti Wain Aerospace and Doy Design, shows how the loop can close (Gen Phoenix, 2024). Made from Helios, the covers are designed to be collected through a take-back programme at the end of their life and turned back into new seat-cover material, while still meeting aviation fire-safety tests (Gen Phoenix, 2024). In a separate seat design, Gen Phoenix’s Essence material is paired with a 100% PET spacer fabric instead of the foam layer usually bonded to seat covers. This allows the whole seat cover to be recycled without complex dismantling (Gen Phoenix, 2026). Gen Phoenix notes, however, that recycling covers at scale still depends on the wider industry setting up ways to collect and return them (Gen Phoenix, 2026).

Environmental, Social and Economic Impact

Gen Phoenix reports zero waste to landfill from its manufacturing since 2016 and recycles 95% of its process water (Gen Phoenix, n.d.a). It reports that its Essence aviation material has an over 80% lower carbon footprint than traditional leather (Gen Phoenix, n.d.e). Early life cycle analysis suggests the Circular Dress Cover cuts the carbon footprint of seat-cover manufacturing by about 30%. For an airline with 180 aircraft, it could keep over 3 tons of waste a year out of landfill (Gen Phoenix, 2024). Products contain up to 77% recycled content. Some of the rest is virgin plastic, which the company aims to eliminate (Gen Phoenix, n.d.b).

For airlines, material on rolls gives around 90% usable area, compared with a maximum of 70% for hides. It is also more than 48% lighter than typical aviation leather, which lowers fuel costs (Gen Phoenix, n.d.c). Gen Phoenix reports that Essence lasts over six years in use without wear and tear, reducing how often seats need replacing (Gen Phoenix, n.d.e). Customers include American Airlines, LATAM, SNCF and Amtrak (Gen Phoenix, n.d.b).

Gen Phoenix manufactures in the UK (Gen Phoenix, n.d.b). It requires suppliers to ensure that leather does not come from the Amazon or other areas of high environmental concern (Gen Phoenix, n.d.b).

Replicability

Gen Phoenix is one of several companies rethinking how leather is made, used and recovered. The examples below take different routes to the same goal, from cleaner tanning and energy recovery to new materials made from farming and food waste.

• Muirhead (UK) describes its leather as the lowest carbon intensity in the world, achieved by sourcing hides locally, reclaiming energy from waste and reusing water (Muirhead, n.d.a). Its long-life leather can be turned into energy at the end of its life instead of going to landfill (Muirhead, n.d.b; Muirhead, n.d.c).

  
  

• ECCO Leather’s DriTan™ (The Netherlands), launched in 2018, uses the moisture already present in hides for part of the tanning process, producing leather that is indistinguishable from traditionally tanned leather. It saves about 20 litres of water per hide and reduces chemical use and wastewater (ECCO Group, 2018).

  
  

• Ananas Anam (London) makes Piñatex® from pineapple leaves left over from the harvest (Ananas Anam, n.d.a). The leaves need no additional resources to grow, and using them gives farming communities a new source of income (Ananas Anam, n.d.b). Because the leaves are often burnt after harvest, the company reports that each metre of Piñatex® saves the equivalent of up to 12 kg of CO₂ (Ananas Anam, n.d.c).

  
  

• VEGEA (Italy) turns grape marc, the waste left over from winemaking, into GrapeSkin®, a material for fashion, interiors, cars and luxury packaging. It is made from several bio-based layers on a thin recycled textile backing (VEGEA, n.d.a; VEGEA, n.d.b).