Ideas and tools that can help leather manufacturers lower their environmental impact have been at the core of industry innovation for years and is still one of the main claims of any new equipment that comes to market. Technology providers are also working hard to make tanning machinery more connected to management information systems. This will make it easier to measure impact and to see quickly if amendments to recipes can make a real difference. And all of this should make it easier for tanners to engage in LCA exercises. These things take time, though, and time may not be on the leather industry's side when it comes to using LCA widely to its advantage. Elsewhere in this section, we quote Michele Battaglia of Silvateam, who estimates that it may take a further five years or more to have "a really good number" to use to show the environmental footprint of different leather articles. Five years, at least, of painstaking work and expensive investment lie ahead, then.
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