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Building safer and greener tanneries: Lessons from Savar

Leather worker, Bangladesh
  • Public
  • 24 June 2026
  • Tools, Guidelines & Briefings
Subject(s)
Leather
Bangladesh
Building safer, greener tanneries - lessons from Savar

People working and living around the Savar Tannery Estate in Bangladesh face serious social and environmental human rights impacts that if not addressed will continue to limit the potential of tanneries and the Bangladesh leather sector as whole. 

This learning paper shares key endline findings from the ‘Improving environmental and social conditions in the Savar Tannery Estate’ project, undertaken by the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), ETI Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Labour Foundation (BLF) and Mondiaal FNV as part of the UK government-funded Sustainable Manufacturing and Environmental Pollution (SMEP) Programme.

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Sustainable Manufacturing and Environmental Pollution

Hands feed raw leather through a press. Photo credit: Bangladesh Labour Foundation.
Improving environmental and social conditions in the Tannery Industrial Estate in Savar, Bangladesh
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Related content

  • Building safer and greener tanneries
  • SMEP Programme briefing papers
  • ETI Bangladesh Workplace Comittees
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  • Putting HRDD into practice in leather supply chains - Lessons from Bangladesh
  • ETI insights: Looking beyond compliance: what human rights due diligence means for leather

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