EC Nursing and Healthcare

Introduction: The tanning industry generates huge volume of wastes during leather manufacturing. However, almost all of these industries have no satisfactory waste treatment processes and hence, the environment is under extreme pressure from pollution by their subsequent wastes. The tanning industry is characterized as a pollutant-generating industry, which produce a wide variety of high-strength toxic chemicals. Therefore, to have evidence based analysis of these problems, the role of this study is vital.

Objectives: The study has aimed at assessing the exiting waste management practices of Kombolcha tannery in 2021.

Materials and Methods: A field test and laboratory-based cross-sectional studies were used to carry out assessment of the tannery’s waste management system. The study was carried out from February 2021 to June 2021.

Result: The types of tannery wastes generated from Kombolcha tannery, as indicated by the study are wet-blue skin trimmings, shaving wastes, crust trimmings, finished leather trimmings and the waste effluents. Determination of solid waste generation rates using material balance analysis techniques showed that in processing 4,500 pieces of goat and sheep skins daily, the tannery generates 508.5kg of waste per day or 158,652kg of waste per annum, merely from the re-tanning and finishing stages of leather processing.

Conclusion: In order to decide the most appropriate strategies for successful waste management measures, it is highly important to acquire information concerning the process steps, from which these wastes are generated, the target product desired to be produced through these processes and the characteristics of these wastes.

Keywords: Kombolcha Tannery; Waste Management Practices; Tannery Waste Management

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