Impact assessment of leather industry on environmentin addis ababa in case of walia leather and leather products plc

Abstract

The focus of the research is to assess environmental challenges of the leather industry in the case of the Waliya leather and leather products factory. Exploratory research design was employed. Both qualitative and quantitative research approach were applied. Stratified Sampling was used. Primary and secondary data were collected by questionnaires and semi structured interview. To analyze the data, statistical package for social science (SPSS) which is statistical software package become applicable accordingly. The finding of the study revealed that environmental policy, regulations and standards are not properly implemented by Waliya leather and leather products factory due to lack of cost effective mechanism of treating its waste, financial constraint and skill in running common effluent treatment plant. The management of the factory perceives using environmental treatment plant has additional cost of production and makes less competitive in the industry. Due to lack of awareness Waliya leather and leather products factory management were protect the environment in its minimal way and it is based on afraid of penalty not willingly to protect the environment. Workers were not comfortable with the safety measures in Waliya leather and leather products factory. In addition, it is found that there are significant number of employees who do not take training about environment protection and safety. The coordination between different stakeholders in the implementation of environmental standards to the leather industry is weak due to different priorities and focus of different stakeholders. The MOI gives more focus to the export targets, less mainstreaming of environmental issues especially before the formulation of Climate Resilient Green Economy Strategy; whereas Ministry of Environment and Forest and Addis Ababa city government Akaki kality sub city have great concern on the environment issues but lack of bringing innovative solution. Lastly the study recommends Waliya leather and leather product factory managers have to use participatory approaches in dealing with the environmental protection problem caused by the factory around villagers and Addis Ababa city administration should combined concrete policy implementation mechanisms which designed to solve environmental impact caused by Waliya leather and leather product factory.