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Assessment of Environmental Impact for Tannery Industries in Bangladesh

Article  in  International Journal of Environmental Science and Development · April 2013

DOI: 10.7763/IJESD.2013.V4.338

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 International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, Vol. 4, No. 2, April 2013

Assessment of Environmental Impact for Tannery

Industries in Bangladesh
Abul Hasnat, Istiakur Rahman, and Mosabbir Pasha

 These industries process 220 metric tons of hide a day and


Abstract—Leather industry is a prominent industrial sector some 40 to 50 liter of chemical liquids for each kilogram of
in Bangladesh which has a massive influence on our economy. hide [2]. However the industrial establishments’ huge
The industry has become an area of export thrust with footwear potential of for sustained economic development of the
having been identified as an area of extreme focus. Though
country has been constrained for they were not designed and
having massive potential, this overgrowing sector has received
much criticism on environmental as well as health issue. operated in sustainable manner. Most of the tanneries do not
Basically the process of tanning is to retain the skin's natural have treatment facilities and environment management
properties, to stabilize its structure and at the same time to systems, as a result simply discharging their wastes into the
chemically process it so it will no longer be subject to environment. Thus, are causing serious environmental and
putrefaction. It is one of the most energy intensive industries in public health problems in particular areas. So this sector
Bangladesh which creates eco toxicity like water pollution, solid
cannot survive unless appropriate environmental
waste generations. In Bangladesh eco toxicity evaluation of any
aquatic environment has not been conducted in large scale so management is induced. So a study was undertaken to
far. Tannery discharge wastes to the marshy land like rivers improve the environmental performance and consequently
and canals which carry toxic chemical like H2S (water), NH3 the productivity of our tanneries.
(ammonia), poisonous chlorine and nitrogen based gases.
According to a report by SOCIETY FOR ENVIRONMENT
AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT (SEHD), millions of people
II. OBJECTIVES
suffer from gastrointestinal, dermatological and other diseases
and 90% of them die before the age of 50. This project has been 1) To provide actual scenario of impact of tannery waste on
done to focus on the evaluation of pollution on the relative areas environment
and also aimed at optimum utilization of for this Environmental 2) To ensure sustainability of tanneries development
Impact Assessment (EIA) has been done in those particular
3) To identify the source of safe production, managing
areas. It shows highly negative impact on ecological
environment but shows more positive impact on human adverse impacts
interest. 4) To enforce environmental policy and applicable
environmental legislations.
Index Terms—EIA, eco toxicity, optimum utilization, tannery
discharge, water treatment.
III. METHODOLOGY
I. INTRODUCTION The study was overtaken by several following tasks:
1) Visiting tanneries and respective surrounding places
Bangladesh is one of the largest deltas in the world 2) On-site assessments and interviews with relevant
consisting of 230 rivers and rivulets and coastline of 710 personnel
kilometers having a unique diversity of ecosystem. 3) Preparing EIA report based on interviews
Bangladesh is identified as a zone of multiple vulnerability, To stipulate the promotion of waste minimization by
prone to severe natural and artificial disasters. Industrial suggesting mitigation measures.
activities produce industrial waste. But it becomes hazardous
when it’s not properly manipulated. Tannery disposals are A. Study Area
rancid higher pollutants among industrial wastes. Bangladesh The study was conducted in Madina tannery, which is the
has goodwill worldwide in exporting tanning products due to largest tannery in Chittagong. It is situated at Jalalabad area
their auspicious quality. There are 214 tanneries in near Oxygen point. The study area is located at 22 23’14.36”
Bangladesh, among them 200 are in Dhaka city and rest 14 N latitude and 91 49’14.36” E longitudes, elevation is 41 feet.
are scattered all over the country. Among the manufacturing It was established in 1983. Madina tannery is renowned for
sectors, the tanning industry comes as the leading exporter manufacturing all sorts of crust and finished leather and
and accounting for up to 6 % of the total manufactured exports them to America and Europe. A refinery industry is
exports [1]. Export earnings from the leather industries sector situated at the south direction of the industry. There are some
in 1995-1996 was USD $237.79 million, of which USD
crop fields and isolated residential houses in the direction of
$211.70 million was from leather exports and USD $26.09
north boundary. Within the 1 km of Madina tannery, urban
million was from export of finished leather products [1].
development is considerably observed. In the back of the
tannery, there is a railway line after which there are hillocks
Manuscript received December 9, 2012; revised February 5, 2013. in north south direction. Seasonal, intermittent and perennial
Abul Hasnat, Istiakur Rahman, and Mosabbir Pasha are with the
Department of CEE, Islamic University of Technology (IUT), Bangladesh streams are introduced in the drainage system of the area. The
(email: mosabbirpasha@yahoo.com).

DOI: 10.7763/IJESD.2013.V4.338 217

 International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, Vol. 4, No. 2, April 2013

𝑛
annual average rainfall is recorded 2870 mm (113in). By 𝐸𝐼𝑉 = 𝑖=0 𝑉𝑖 𝑊𝑖 (1)
runoff, all the wastes are drained and affect the nearby
agricultural field. [3]. where
Vi, Relative change in the value of environmental quality
B. Tanning Process
of parameter i with respect to existing situation.
It is a process of converting putrescible animal hides and Wi, Relative importance or weight of parameter i. It
skins to a stable commercial product called “Leather”. Card represents relative weight or importance of the respective
hides and skins arriving at a tannery are trimmed to remove parameters.
unwanted materials for making of leather. Then the soaking, n, Total number of environmental parameter related to the
liming, fleshing, de-liming, bating degreasing and pickling project.
processes are carried out to create a favorable environment The computation of Environmental Impact Value (EIV)
for tanning process. needs determination of Vi, the value representing the
C. Impact on Environment magnitude of alteration of the environmental parameters, and
Tanning process includes both solid and liquid wastes. The Wi, the value representing relative weight or importance of
solid wastes are predominantly from the initial and final the respective parameters.
stages of processing while the effluents are produced mostly B. Magnitude of Environmental Alterations
during tanning and dying. The effluents contain dissolved The positive and negative changes in environmental
lime, hydrogen sulfide, acids, chromium dyes, oils, organic parameters resulting from tannery industries, usually
matter and suspended solids. The waste water which is expressed in qualitative terms. Since the changes of
discharged into open drains and ultimately find its way onto environmental parameters are measured with respect to
land surfaces and into waters in the vicinity. As it is difficult background conditions, no change has 0 values. The adverse
to flush-out the waste water, so it causing a great changes have been given values -1, -2, -3 and -4 to represent
environmental hazard in the neighborhood of the tannery. On low, moderate, high and severe negative impacts respectively.
the other hand, dumping of solid waste is seriously affecting Similarly +1, +2, +3 and +4 represent low, moderate, high
the soil and plants, vitiating the air, groundwater and human and very high positive impacts respectively. The EIV of the
health. tannery was computed by taking a value from the scale
representing effect of the project on each parameter.
IV. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT C. Relative Importance of Environmental Parameters
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is the assessment All environmental parameters influenced by the Tanneries
of the changes in environmental resources or values resulting are not of equal importance. The importance of a parameter
industry or project which may be positive or negative. The varies from country to country depending on the
EIA process generally comprises of three sequential environmental concerns of the country and the parameters
elements: that influence human life and aquatic lives directly. In
1) All potential positive and negative impacts on the natural Bangladesh, flood, employment, agriculture, fisheries, etc.
and human environment resulting from a project which carry more importance than many others. The parameters
is going to occur in future or may exist at present as an related to tanneries were given different values based on
industry or a project. prevailing environmental concerns in Bangladesh and are
2) Evaluation of the identified impacts with respect to presented in Table I. The values representing importance or
impacts from other industrial actions. weight of the parameters can be used to compute the relative
3) Preparation of a mitigation plan which upon impacts of the parameters which are then summed up to
implementation will reduce negative impacts on the obtain the total EIV of Madina Tannery. However this
environment to acceptable levels. method has following significant drawbacks [4].
1) The input judgments are not quantified efficiently.
A. Method of Assessment 2) It does not consider the consistency of judgments.
Considering the situation prevailing in the country and to 3) Only neighboring parameters in the list are directly
be definitive in work, a simple methodology was taken for compared.
Environmental Impact Assessment. The methodology is The values indicating magnitude of environmental
based on Environmental Evaluation System (EES) as the changes and corresponding importance of environmental
assessment is not done for such a project which is going to be parameters influenced by the tanneries were placed in the
appropriate columns in Table I and then multiplied them to
established in future. In Bangladesh, in the absence of a data
obtain positive and negative impact of the parameters. Finally
base it is only possible to estimate the potential
all these impacts as illustrated in Table I were summed up to
environmental changes from the existing situation. In this obtain the total EIV.
method, the background environmental conditions were the
reference level and the positive and negative changes in
environmental conditions resulting from the Tannery V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
industries were evaluated. Environmental impact assessed by As we get the total environmental impact value (EIV) from
Environmental Impact Values (EIVs). The mathematical table I is -133. Some of the human interest factors were found
definition of EIVs is given by the equation (1): positive but all the other physic-chemical factors made the

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 International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, Vol. 4, No. 2, April 2013

total EIV negative. prepared in 1995. This was the first attempt to identify the
Based on the survey the physical impact was found -47. It environmental impacts of development activities in
is because of discharging the waste water without proper Bangladesh. But they are still in use for medium and large
treatment. For this reason surface water quality is becoming scale projects in water sector. So it is really a matter of great
polluted as well as the ground water. Also the air quality is regret for industrial sectors in Bangladesh that there is such
degrading in an alarming rate. Those who live near the specific guideline to select parameters and assigning
tanneries face severe problem for sound pollution. importance value to conduct EIA. For this reason some
Fish culture becomes wiped out near the tannery area due judgement was introduced here. In future some of these
to discharge of untreated waste water into the water body. parameters from this study could be used for further EIA
Growth of trees reduces and sometimes the soil loses its study for similar industrial sectors.
fertility.
Due to tanneries different types of industries are built near
the tannery zone. The human interest has a positive impact VI. MITIGATION MEASURES
because employment increases very rapidly although the
As we can understand that the adverse effects of the
sewage system becomes ineffective for the clogged water.
tannery industries are very severe but considering its
TABLE I: ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT VALUE (EIV)
economical benefits we should not ignore this sector. To
Parameter Relative Degree Relative impact reduce the adverse effects for a sustainable environment the
importa of Positive Negative EIV following steps should be taken immediately.
nce impact For waste water treatment every tannery should establish
value
1. Physical -47 Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP).
Ground 2 -2 -4 1) There should be a particular industrial zone for tannery
water industries far enough from the residential area.
pollution 2) There should be a particular industrial zone for tannery
Soil fertility 3 -3 -9
Surface 3 -5 -15
industries far enough from the residential area.
water 3) The treated waste water discharged from the industries
Pollution should be within the acceptable limit according to the
Air 3 -3 -9 Environmental Conservation Rule ’97 (ECR ’97), which
pollution
Noise 2 -5 -10 must be monitored by the government officials.
pollution 4) Solid waste should be disposed very carefully in a
2. -20 particular zone.
Ecological 5) Safety of workers must be ensured.
Fisheries 2 -4 -8
Forest 2 -5 -10
6) Wastes that are used for poultry food must be free from
Wild life 1 -2 -2 certain chemicals specially chromium.
3. Human +7 7) Environmental Management Plan should be introduced
interest for reducing pollution and make the process more
Loss of 1 -2 -6 compatible with environmental sustainability.
agricultural
lands 8) Before establishing any industries the resettlement plan
Industrial 3 +2 +6 for the affected people must be considered.
activities
Employment 6 +5 +30
opportunities
REFERENCES
Recreation 1 -3 -9 [1] S. M. Imamul Huq, “Critical Environmental Issues Relating to Tanning
Sewage 2 -7 -14 Industries in Bangladesh,” pp. 22, February, 1998.
4. Quality of -73 [2] K. M. Shams, G. Tichy, M. Sager, T. Peer, A. Bashar, and M. Jozic,
life “Soil Contamination From Tannery Wastes with Emphasis on the Fate
Aesthetics 3 -1 -3 and Distribution of Tri- and Hexavalent,” vol. 26, pp. 123-124,
Health 3 -9 -27 September 2008.
Solid waste 4 -7 -28 [3] K. M. N. Islam1, K. Misbahuzzamanl, A. K. Majumder, and M.
Chakrabarty, “Efficiency of different coagulants combination for the
Safety 3 -5 -15
treatment of tannery effluents: A case study of Bangladesh,” African
Total EIV -133
Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 30, pp. 410,
May, 2011.
During the study it was found that solid wastes were [4] N. Dee, J. Baker, N. Drobny, K. Duke, T. Whitman, and P. Fahringer,
dumped in open places which create the most severe problem “An Environmental Evaluation System for Water Resource Planning,”
Water Resource Research, vol. 9, pp. 523-535, 1972.
for the environment. It was also found that the workers do not
take any kind of safety measures during the work hour.
People those who live near the tannery industries and works
there suffers from different diseases. Abul Hasnat is now in Civil and Environmental
Despite all of that the most severe problem was found that Engineering Department of Islamic University of
there is lack of proper guideline. A multi-donor program Technology (IUT), Gazipur, Bangladesh. His main
research interests are Structure,Waste Water
called Flood Action Plan (FAP) was undertaken after the Treatment,Solid Waste Management, Landfill
1987-88 floods. As part of the FAP studies the guideline for Leachate management, Water Resource Management.
Environmental Impact Assessment was prepared in 1992.
The manual for Environmental Impact Assessment was

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 International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, Vol. 4, No. 2, April 2013

Istiakur Rahman is now in Civil and Environmental Mosabbir Pasha is with Civil and Environmental
Engineering Department of Islamic University of Engineering Department of Islamic University of
Technology (IUT), Gazipur, Bangladesh. His main Technology (IUT), Gazipur, Bangladesh. His main
research interests are Structure,Renewable research interests are Waste Water Treatment,
energy,Waste Water Treatment, Environmental Environmental Chemistry, Solid Waste
Chemistry, Solid Waste Management, Landfill Management, Landfill Leachate management,
Leachate management, Climate Change, Water Climate Change, Water Resource Management.
Resource Management.

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