Bonded Leather - Green or Greenwashing

So many people ask me about leather probably because no real Greenie would recommend leather. But if you have come to know my blog at all, you will know that I do not advocate anything but sustainability in the furniture business, no matter how that comes. Just because the typical earthy-crunchy, tree-hugging, vegan environmentalist would never touch leather does not mean I am that girl. I am most decidedly not. But I am going to take a good long look at Bonded or Reconstituted Leather. Is it Green or Greenwashing?

Bonded Leather has been around for quite some time - Bonded leather, or reconstituted leather, is an man-made material composed of 80% to 100% leather waste scraps usually macerated hide pieces bonded together with a  binder and then constructed into a fibrous mat to create a look and feel similar to that of genuine leather but at a fraction of the cost. Examples of products that are most commonly constructed with bonded leather are: bibles, hymnals, diaries, desk accessories, purses, belts, chairs, and sofas.

While it is a form of recycling and is admirable to reuse the waste scraps, it does take a tremendous amount of energy to grind the pieces and bond them together again. Additionally, most are chemically treated. And most have a chemical coating on the surface to help with fire ratings lost in the reconstitution process as well as use the use of adhesives to bind it to the backer. There are some out there, like E-Leather that uses no adhesives to bond the ground leather together, but they still use coatings for such things as FR requirements on an industry by industry basis. A recent BBC ‘Watchdog’ program reported on imported Chinese sofas retailed in the UK that were giving customers a highly irritating rash – most probably caused by the chemical process to make or the chemical coating on the reconstituted leather – which has prompted more than 1000 people to file legal proceedings.

Some Bonded Leathers are so coated that they are actually a thick PVC coating with a thin film of leather scraps underneath. In many countries, UK, New Zealand, Australia and others, calling this product leather is deceptive labeling practices. Even the FTC in the US says you can't do that here unless the product "is composed in all substantial parts of leather." They specifically reference that all materials, coatings or backings must be identified if they are used to increase weight, thickness or make up the remaining percentage of content. Therefore anyone using Bonded Leather right now that is not disclosing that theirs is not 100% leather has a PVC coating or whatever it might be is actually in violation of FTC labeling guidelines. Additionally, they specifically mention that no use of animal imagery like a cow can be used unless the product is really leather. This is especially put in for those trying to pass pigskin off as cow leather but equally applies here to Bonded Leather. There is a caveat that the imagery is allowed as long as full disclosure exists as to full amount of content and other materials.

So where do we fall on Bonded Leather in terms of Green-ness? It's just not...unless there is no coatings, no added chemicals and no amount of additional energy and carbon required to process the recycled waste into the Bonded Leather. There are other uses for the Leather scraps already that do not require any of the chemicals and minimal processing - they grind them up and use for cushion fill in some factories already. Small pieces are recovered for shoes, purses and smaller desk accessories all the time. I would steer clear of marketing Bonded Leather as Green, make sure that my labels are properly disclosing content immediately and double check those outer coatings for potential liability (that UK issue only happened last month.)

Comments

[Easy Going Green]

A typical sofa definitely uses more than one cow hide (according to treehugger.com...it takes 8 acres of land, 12,000 pounds of forage, 125 gallons of gasoline & other petroleum derivatives for fertilizer, 2,500 pounds of corn, 350 pounds of soybeans, 1.2 million gallons of water and 1.5 acres of farmland to grow the crops for feed, plus various insecticides, herbicides, antibiotics & hormones to grow one cow from an 80 pound calf to its full size...) but keep in mind that these cows are not slaughtered just for your sofa. They are already being used for meat, and then the hides are sold and used for leather, so there is no specific need for the added guilt unless you are a vegan. There are not cow hide breeding farms that I am aware of at this point.

Leather is a wonderful material for just the reasons you state - easy cleaning, durability, status, but also the wonderful soft feel and if it is vegetable tanned then it is more likely there are not nasty chemicals used - like chromium during the processing making it no better and probably worse than most synthetic fabric materials you will encounter.

Most commercial leathers are just as chemically and carbon intensive as any synthetic product you can find on the market. So all things being equal, buy the one that has the features and price you require at this point.

If it were me with pets (and I have a black cat,) I would choose a patterned/textured wool or wool chenille fabric to visibly hide the hair between cleanings. Wool is inherently breathable, flame retardant, and easy to clean by vacuuming and using spot removers (decline the Scotchguard.) Besides, wool is completely sustainable - you don't have to slaughter the sheep to get it.

[Dave C.]

This is an interesting conversation because my wife and I have been in the market for a new sofa and we are considering leather strictly for its durability and easy cleaning (dog hair sucks). I'm torn because although I'm also not the "earthy-crunchy, tree-hugging, vegan environmentalist", I do try to consider the impact of my purchases. How many cows, how much methane, how much processing does it take to make one couch?

On the other hand, if cleanliness is my goal, how much impact does a chemically treated, synthetic fabric sofa made in another country have, and will it last nearly as long as leather. More research is needed, but it's not an easy choice... unless you have some insight.