‘The honest story’
More and more car manufacturers are stopping the use of leather in the interiors of their models. Not the best thing, apparently. Using leather to decorate interiors would fit in perfectly with a sustainable future. Those are not our words, but those of One 4 Leather. Indeed: an interest group for the leather industry.
When presenting almost every new model, we are presented with a passage about the use of sustainable materials. Car makers are happy to report that the percentage of recycled materials used is above that of the previous model. In addition, manufacturers are increasingly choosing to replace leather with artificial leather, or… vegan-learning as it is sometimes called. The latter is not a good thing, says One 4 Leather. One 4 Leather is a club that, in its own words, wants to tell ‘the complete story’ about the use of leather in cars. According to One 4 Leather, the use of leather in cars is very sustainable. The club even goes so far as to provide the ultimate in leather upcyclingmaterial. Together with thirty companies active in the leather industry, it has drawn up a manifesto in which it calls on members of the climate summit United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) to “[…] to recognize the importance of natural materials and in particular leather”.
One 4 Leather says that more and more plastic is being used in cars, including to replace leather. According to the club, the use of leather is much more sustainable, as it can be reused. In addition, One 4 Leather says that leather is a by-product of the meat and dairy industry and that no livestock is raised for the leather industry alone. One 4 Leather even reasons that it would be a shame if more leather were not used in cars. “With the increasing consumption of beef, the leather industry is crucial. Otherwise the hides risk ending up in landfill where they would emit hundreds of tonnes of methane every year.” In addition, according to the interest group, leather is a natural product and it would be a shame to replace leather with material made from petroleum.
A case of ‘We from Toilet Duck’ or do you think Leather 4 All makes good points? In addition: do you have, or do you want, leather in your car and what is your view on artificial leather?
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl