Vegan leather made from agro-waste introduced as alternative to synthetic leather at CSIR exhibition: NIIST

New Delhi: Vegan leather made from agricultural waste like mango peel, banana stem and corn husk has been developed to provide an industry-ready alternative to animal and synthetic leather, the NIIST said.

The innovative technology for making vegan leather was displayed at the foundation day of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) at Pragati Maidan here.

“The National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST) displayed an innovative technology for making vegan leather from agro-residues, providing an industry-ready alternative to animal and synthetic leather in an eco-friendly and cost-effective manner," the NIIST said in a statement.

Thiruvananthapuram-based NIIST, which developed this technology as part of the year-long ‘One Week One Lab’ (OWOL) programme, demonstrated it during the two-day CSIR foundation day celebrations which began here on Tuesday.

NIIST, which is the only interdisciplinary lab of CSIR, said it has made synthetic and animal leather alternatives with a huge industrial application from various agricultural residues such as mango peel, banana stem, pineapple waste, cactus, water hyacinth, corn husk, and rice-related waste.

“It has the potential to replace around 30-50 per cent of synthetic chemicals from the existing leather available in the market. Also, the developed leather sheet costs 50 per cent less than synthetic and animal leather and has a smaller carbon footprint," the statement said.

NIIST Director Dr C Anandharamakrishnan said this developed process will find a good place in the market owing to the urge from the people to find alternatives to animal and synthetic leather.

“Vegan leather has a shelf life of more than three years. It has also shown strong tensile strength, sleek finish, good water retention properties, temperature resistance, and stability compared to other existing synthetic and animal leather,” he noted.

Though synthetic leather had a booming market valued at over USD 30 billion in 2020 and is likely to hit USD 40 billion in the next six years, there is also a huge environmental hazard associated with leather products and synthetic leather.

Also, the production of leather involves toxic chemicals while the processing of leather is highly energy- and water-consuming.