CITEVE, the Portuguese technology center for textile and clothing in Portugal, has devised a method for converting natural leather waste and byproducts from the tanning industry into new textile coatings.

At the recent Techtextil exposition in Frankfurt, CITEVE and its Portuguese partners ERT Têxtil, CeNTI, and CTIC received the New Approaches to Sustainability and Circular Economy Innovation Award (June 21-24).

The technique entails the large-scale chemical transformation of leather trimmings and EPA waste into a solution capable of producing coatings for automobile interiors.

ERT Têxtil is already commercializing the novel textile coatings under the Phoenix brand.

ERT was founded in 1992 in So Joo da Madeira, one of the key industrial centers in the country's north, and has over 1,000 workers and annual revenue of more than €100 million. A multinational in the automobile industry, it is still involved in textile components and other footwear materials.

ERT CEO João Brandão, said that receiving this award in the year that ERT celebrates 30 years is a motivation for them to continue developing and growing.