--- title: Hell for Leather: Bangladesh’s Toxic Tanneries | TIME description: Leather from Bangladesh is in great demand at fashion houses from Italy to Hong Kong, but it comes at a cost: toxic waste and disease in the tanneries of Dhaka. canonical: https://time.com/video/uWHQsFBo/ og:title: Hell for Leather: Bangladesh’s Toxic Tanneries og:description: Leather from Bangladesh is in great demand at fashion houses from Italy to Hong Kong, but it comes at a cost: toxic waste and disease in the tanneries of Dhaka. og:url: https://time.com/video/uWHQsFBo/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/uWHQsFBo/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hell for Leather: Bangladesh’s Toxic Tanneries twitter:description: Leather from Bangladesh is in great demand at fashion houses from Italy to Hong Kong, but it comes at a cost: toxic waste and disease in the tanneries of Dhaka. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/uWHQsFBo/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Hell for Leather: Bangladesh’s Toxic Tanneries > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Hell for Leather: Bangladesh’s Toxic Tanneries [Watch (HLS stream): Hell for Leather: Bangladesh’s Toxic Tanneries](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uWHQsFBo.m3u8) (3:55)  _Published 2013-11-05. Leather from Bangladesh is in great demand at fashion houses from Italy to Hong Kong, but it comes at a cost: toxic waste and disease in the tanneries of Dhaka._ --- Jul 27, 2023 3:54 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [At Least 67 People Were Killed in a Fire in Bangladesh's Capital](/video/pwhH4Es7/) ### At Least 67 People Were Killed in a Fire in Bangladesh's Capital [Attackers Hold Hostages In Bangladesh's Capital ](/video/suWYQ81m/) ### Attackers Hold Hostages In Bangladesh's Capital [A Strike in Bangladesh's Capital](/video/vADiTqIZ/) ### A Strike in Bangladesh's Capital --- ## Transcript >> Inside the sweltering hot Dhaka tannery, workers are drying sheets of high- quality black diamond goat leather. Bangladesh is best known for its garment exports, but these days, global demand for its leather is booming. This business with Europe and East Asia has raised export earnings more than 20 percent and they're expected to top billion dollars by year's end. But in the capital, the social and environmental toll is devastating. >> People have the liberty of dumping waste. I mean, there is no polluters pay principle here and then environmental regulations are relaxed for the tannery industry on the excuse that these tanneries will be relocated somewhere else. -[ Foreign Language ] >> Nearly all the country's 200 tanneries are clustered in the Hazaribagh neighborhood. The name means a Thousand Gardens, which couldn't be further from the truth. -[ Foreign Language ] [ Foreign Language ] >> Mohammed Mahmudia is a tannery worker who has lived and worked in Hazaribagh for more than 20 years. He earns about $ 110 a month handling chemicals and is paying much more with his health. -[ Foreign Language ] >> Some researchers say the average life expectancy of a male tannery worker is now less than 50 years. The total lack of waste removal and treatment services that has turned Hazaribagh into an urban dumping ground is also taking a toll on the 200, 000 people who call it home. -[ Foreign Language ] -[ Foreign Language ] >> Toxic effluents discharged by the tanneries travel through open air gutters and spill into the streets en route to city waterways. Each day, an estimated 21, 000 cubic centimeters of untreated waste is dumped into the Buriganga River. >> Buriganga is a dead river. There was an effort two, three years back to actually clean Buriganga, but it seems to be impossible because there is a layer of some 10 feet of waste. >> Many rural poor who come to the city for work are oblivious to the health risks. These families were dredging for leather scraps lost during a recent flood. The scraps are dried and burned for animal feed, meaning large amounts of harmful smoke that has contributed to a surge in respiratory ailments. Mohammed Abdul Hai, the head of the Bangladesh Tanners Association and a third generation factory owner, is proud of how far the industry has come. -[ unk ] industry in Bangladesh. So many customers including throughout the world are coming in Bangladesh to buy our leather. >> But he admits the pollution is out of control and says owners are ready to move to another location outside the city. >> Now, we are shifting for our Hazaribagh to Savar new tannery area only due to make our production environmental standard. >> However, after years of defying court orders to do so, few people are taking the owners at their word. >> They have been talking about it, I think, more than 10 years, but this is not happening. >> For all its obvious hazards, Mohammed says tannery work is his only option that he must continue as long as his health holds out. -[ Foreign Language ] >> His eldest son recently joined him in the tannery, but he hopes that if he can save enough money, seven- year- old Parviz will have a different path. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Hell for Leather: Bangladesh’s Toxic Tanneries","description":"Leather from Bangladesh is in great demand at fashion houses from Italy to Hong Kong, but it comes at a cost: toxic waste and disease in the tanneries of Dhaka.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/uWHQsFBo/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-11-05T21:09:09.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uWHQsFBo.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/uWHQsFBo/","duration":"PT3M55S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/uWHQsFBo/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```