INNOVA LEATHER: A KNOWLEDGE BASED PLATFORM FOR SUSTAINABLE LEATHER MANUFACTURE

1. INNOVA LEATHER: A KNOWLEDGE BASED PLATFORM FOR SUSTAINABLE LEATHER MANUFACTURE SERGIU-ADRIAN GUTA , GHEORGHE BOSTACA , GABRIELA MACOVESCU INCDTP - Division: Leather and Footwear Research Institute, 93 Ion Minulescu, 031215, Bucharest, Romania, icpi@icpi.ro A knowledge based platform that underpins sustainable leather manufacturing. The platform comprises three independent databases namely: Environmental Legislation Database for The Leather and Footwear Industry, Database for Clean Technologies in The Leather Industry and Analysis and Tests for Leather, ResearchCentres and Laboratories. Database 1: Clean Technologies Clean technology can significantly reduce the costs of environmental compliance by reducing effluent loadings and chemical costs in leather manufacture. The imperative and desideratum at the same time of selecting the most adequate chemicals, operations, technologies, machines can be achieved by using the information stored in the databaseillustrated in figure 1. Figure 1. Screen shot for the database for clean technologies • Database 2: Environmental Legislation • Leather and fur manufacturing generate pollutant emission in soil, atmosphere and also in water. Consequently these production activities face environmental regulation at both national and European level.Hence it was necessary to develop adatabase regardingenvironmental regulation.The environmental legislation database is shown in figure 2. and comprises the following sections: • Integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC); • Environmental Management Systems (EMS); • Air quality; • Water quality; • Waste management; • Eco label; Figure 2. Environmental legislation database for the leather industry Database 3: Analysis and Tests for Leather, Research Centres and Laboratories The database (figure 3.) has six sections namely leather chemical tests, physical test methods for leather, emission, energy, eco-labelling and research centres. . It allow user to search information within all sections. Figure 3. Analysis and Tests for Leather, Research Centres and Laboratories Database Platform access All the presented databases can be accessed viahttp://innovaleather.ro web page,clicking on results section and choosingdatabasesmenu. At the time this database was developed, access to existing information is free to all users. Acknowledgments This work has been financed by the European Fund for Regional Development and the Romanian Government in the framework of Sectoral Operational Programme CCE-AXIS 2, Operation 2.1.2, through the INNOVA-LEATHER project: «Innovative technologies for leather sector increasing technological competitiveness by RDI, quality of life and environmental protection» –  contract no. 242/20.09.2010 ID 638 COD SMIS – CSNR 12579 Conclusions The platform is intended as a useful tool for companies, technicians, engineers and researchers whose activity is related to the leather industry. 4 TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ADVANCED MATERIALS AND SYSTEMS ICAMS 2012 2012 2012 27-29 September, Bucharest, Romania