Fish leather : a sustainable, responsible and underutilised commodity : Atlantic Leather ehf.

Verkefnið er lokað til 31.12.2138. Atlantic Leather ehf. (AL) is an Icelandic tannery situated in Sauðárkrókur, NW Iceland. The company is one of only a handful in the world that produce leather from discarded fish skins. Not only is fish leather more sustainable than traditional leathers, it is a v...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lilja Gísladóttir 1994-
Other Authors: Háskólinn á Akureyri
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1946/30816
Description
Summary:Verkefnið er lokað til 31.12.2138. Atlantic Leather ehf. (AL) is an Icelandic tannery situated in Sauðárkrókur, NW Iceland. The company is one of only a handful in the world that produce leather from discarded fish skins. Not only is fish leather more sustainable than traditional leathers, it is a viable replacement material for various plastic products. Although the fish leather market has been slowly growing since the 1990’s, the general public’s knowledge of this unique and sustainable product is limited. The following study aims to enhance the production and marketing performance of AL by conducting an in-depth company analysis. This analysis aims to highlight aspects of the company and its production methods that could be improved upon to enable a more environmentally friendly and conscious corporation. The study corresponds to a „Cradle-to-Cradle“ basis (C2C), where the entire life-cycles of various fish leather products produced by AL are taken into consideration. Information was collated for this study through numerous visits to the tannery, an interview and personal communications with the CEO. Gunnsteinn Björnsson and reference work. The following company aspects were taken into consideration: AL’s raw material sourcing, AL’s leather making process (chemicals and materials utilised by the company therein), products life-cycles after leaving the factory and other characteristics relative to production such as total energy and water usages of the factory, along with waste disposal methods. A partial C2C analysis (with the primary focus on material health) was conducted to create a clear overall review of the company and its products. AL’s fish leathers are currently not eligible C2C products and therefore not as sustainable as they possibly could be. With further research of currently unavailable information and the application of changes suggested for each stage of the fish leather products life-cycles however, AL could successfully obtain a C2C material health certificate and a C2C product ...