Ildemar Marchi de Almeida: sustainability is at the DNA of JBS Couros

JBS Couros is a segment of the largest animal protein production company in the world, JBS, a Brazilian multinational company. We (JBS Couros) are the industry providing a sustainable destination for the leather (from bovines), which is a left over from the food industry.

Leather

Being a protein-based material (leather) technically allows for perspiration, better comfort, adaptation to the foot. Also, leather is a material / product with a high lifespan.

Today there is a lot of talk about sustainability, carbon footprint, product life cycle and leather is something that we have evolved a lot and have worked a lot. Let's not forget one thing is the natural origin of a product and another thing is a fossil origin. At JBS Couros we have been focusing on the issue of sustainability, which is in our DNA. And what is sustainability? For us, there are several pillars. For us it is very important all that has to do with traceability, not only of the origin of the product, but also of the process, and also the responsibility for the product we deliver, and its environmental and social impacts. All of these are at the core of what sustainability is at JBS Couros.

We have taken a big step in recent years which is the emergence of this technological innovation, a leather concept that we call Kind Leather. We have a product that is a protein and in 2050 we will have a global problem, which will result from the lack of protein given the evolution and growth of the world population. We are already working on that, providing sustainability, and also thinking about supporting the protein demand. Since leather is a source of protein, we started working on the shape of this material by doing what? By working on the processing of the product until the end, avoiding putting any chemical inputs, transport, and other things that can be discarded from the process. So, everything that would be discarded in the future, we remove them in advance, and we generate food. We stop generating waste and have food at the beginning of the process.

Society just recently realized that it needs to take care of our environment. JBS started to focus on this many years ago, this is in our DNA and we always think about circular economy. If we do not work on the circular economy, it will not be possible to move forward and maintain this environment where we live. So, we're thinking about it and with this work, this project, this concept, Kind Leather, we meet what society wants today, from industries and from our segment. Because the leather industry is nothing more than an industry that gives a sustainable destination to a product originating from the generation of protein for us humans.

This interview was recorded during the last edition of Expo Riva Schuh in June 2022.