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The president of Portugal’s tanning industry association, APIC, Nuno Carvalho, has said a strategic plan the organisation is currently working to emphasises leather’s place in the circular economy that governments, companies and consumers insist they want to move to, reports Leatherbiz.  In a recent interview with the national newspaper Diário de Notícias, Mr Carvalho said: “The circular economy is ever-present in this sector and this is an idea we reinforce in the ongoing strategic plan that APIC has in place at the moment. The tanning industry and leather are intrinsically circular.” Asked for examples, he said the tanning cluster at Alcanena in central Portugal had developed a project to convert waste from leather production into electricity. He said this could have generated enough electricity to make the cluster’s common effluent treatment plant self-sufficient in terms of energy supply. However, the local authorities opposed the plan. Now, he said, APIC is moving forward with a proposal to use tanning waste in fertiliser production.