For Greener Pastures

Every year, 2.49 million tons of leather waste are landfilled or burned. The only recycled leather product currently made to tackle this issue is ‘bonded leather’. Identifying its limited impact, Gereon Wahle developed a more effective alternative. By combining biological hide glue and shredded leather waste, he created a composite that can be recycled in a loop. Similar to plastic, when this biological material reaches the end of its life, it can be broken down and pressed into something new. This unique material process and recycling infrastructure allows companies to participate in the circular leather economy. Gaining control over their products’ entire lifecycle and continually generating value from their waste. This radical process highlights the glaring shortcomings of current waste systems and forces us to rethink them – from linear to circular.