The leather cluster comprises 150 companies, employs 2,000 people turns over €500 million per year. Speaking out on their behalf UNIC said: “These are companies that are synonymous in the international leather sector with reliability and quality. They operate successfully in the domestic market, in Europe, in the Middle East and in the US, supplying some of the fashion sector’s most important brands.”
It added: “The truth is that, far from being the cause of this problem, the Solofra cluster is one of the few organisations in the area that has a wastewater treatment system in place. Moreover, that system has two wastewater treatment plants that work together, one in Solofra and one in Mercato San Severino, providing high levels of environmental protection.”
Finally, UNIC said Solofra’s tanners, tired of these “baseless attacks” have asked their national body to urge Italy’s environment ministry and the regional government in Campania to step up measures to bring to an end any “illicit conduct” that is causing pollution. It insisted the cluster’s leather manufacturers will offer the greatest possible support to any such measures. The tanners want these controls to be “precise and strict” to put beyond any doubt that they are not the cause of the problem.
