Bio-circular Products

Biocircular Products

For much of the industrial era mass produced goods ended up in the trash. Most businesses were, and still are, based on a linear model where resources are extracted, consumed and thrown away. They were never designed to be reused or recycled.

As consumer’s environmental concerns have grown, companies have responded by offering products that use fewer resources, reduce their carbon footprint and avoid dangerous substances. While commendable, the end result is the same- in a linear model what was made, no matter how carefully, ends up sooner or later as waste.

From leather to organic fertilizer

Products designed to be fully circular are the necessary next step if we are to preserve our planet and ensure a future for our children. With Ecotan, leather can be returned to nature at the end of its useful life.

From leather to organic fertilizer

Products designed to be fully circular are the necessary next step if we are to preserve our planet and ensure a future for our children. With Ecotan, leather can be returned to nature at the end of its useful life.

A bio-circular approach

Circular materials engineered to be up cycled at end of life are becoming more available to designers. Thanks to this approach, finished products can eventually re-join nature’s cycle.

Every component of Ecotan leather (animal hides, tanning agents, retanning agents and finishes) is engineered to be bio-circular. Unlike most modern materials competing to be less bad for the planet, at the end of a long, useful life Ecotan leather can be transformed into valuable fertilizers used by crops grown to certified organic standards.

Ecotan leather has a proven path back to nature

Untanned leather (raw hide) is of course biodegradable and therefore bio-circular.

When we tan animal hides, we preserve them indefinitely and make them available for extended use. While this may be a good thing for us in the short term, leather tanning turns animal hides into a material that is non-biodegradable by definition and, left in this state, is not circular. 

Thanks to the technology of our partner Fertilizzanti Certaldo we can transform leather into a fertilizer which releases back to nature the nutrients originally taken on loan from the hide: a turning point for the circularity of leather.

You could say tanning creates a detour off nature’s cycle and, with Ecotan that detour does not dead end but seamlessly rejoins nature after our use. 

How it works

A chemical process, called hydrolysis, is used to break down leather proteins into simpler molecules made up of carbon and nitrogen. The result, protein hydrolysate, is used to make a granular fertilizer that contains organic substances, nitrogen and phosphorus, engineered for use in organic agriculture.

This fertilizer

Is organic farming compliant

Is released slowly over time reducing the overall quantity of fertilizer needed to grow crops

Is high in organic nitrogen and carbon content

Improves soil fertility by stimulating the activity of soil microorganisms

A viable commercial path

Our partner is ready to receive any shavings, scraps, and recycled finished or used Ecotan leathers and turn them into an organic farming certified fertilizer. Silvateam together with this partner will ensure that every leather marketed under the Ecotan brand complies with the recyclability requirements of this company.