The main aim of the challenge is to achieve true circularity and meet customers’ net-zero goals by transitioning to processing coated post-consumer and post-industrial leather waste from end-of-life products, such as car seats, aircraft interiors, cutting room floor waste and footwear. The challenge involves developing a separation technology to remove durable polymer layers (PU coatings, protective finishes, and adhesives) from sheets of leather, leather pieces and leather fibres. These polymer coatings can fragment and contaminate the leather fibres during mechanical processing, making them less suitable for the challenge holder’s manufacturing process.
The challenge holder is a global leader in sustainable and circular textiles They employ approximately 150 people in the UK and export 90% of their production.
The company processes ‘wet blue’ leather waste, which is uncoated chrome-tanned leather from manufacturing processes, through their proven production technology to create high-performance, clean and sustainable materials for automotive, aviation, and consumer markets.
To achieve true circularity and meet Net Zero goals they are looking to identify novel separation technologies for polymer contaminants and finishes from sheets / pieces of leather waste and leather fibres that enables them to process leather waste from end-of-life products or coated leather waste into sustainable materials.
There is no specific cost requirement at this stage; this is an exploratory discussion. Selected solutions will be trialled in pilot studies at the challenge holder state-of-the-art multi-million sqm annual capacity facility in the East of England for pilot-scale testing and validation of separation technologies. Upon successful trials, there is the possibility of further adoption, and the challenge holder is willing to co-invest through their £3+ million annual R&D budget to support promising novel technology development.
-
Entrants to this competition must be:
- Established businesses, academic institutions, start-ups, SMEs, or individual entrepreneurs
- UK based, EU based or international solution providers
-
The automotive and airline industries alone generate millions of leather seats annually, which currently end up in landfills or are incinerated. Post-consumer leather waste from end-of-life products (such as car seats, aircraft interiors, and footwear) and cutting room floor leather wastes are coated with durable polymer layers (PU coatings, protective finishes, foamsand adhesives).
The challenge holder could recycle this material into leather fibre repurposing this waste stream. However, when the material is mechanically processed, these polymer coatings can fragment and contaminate the leather fibres, making them less suitable for their production process.
The solution needs to be a separation technology to remove those polymers and other contaminants such as stitching, textile backing, adhesives, small metallic particles from the post-consumer leather so that the challenge holder can recover clean leather fibre which can then go through their production technology to create high performance sustainable materials for a wide range of markets.
The technology maturity level of the proposed solution should be ≥ TRL6.
-
The solution should be capable of removing coatings and other contaminants from waste sheets of leather, cutting room floor waste, end of life leather products such as seats and leather waste from deconstructed footwear. Some of these leathers may be in the form of offcuts whilst others are shredded.The coatings are generally around 20 microns thick, though they can be thicker depending on the application, but they remain under 150 microns.
The solution can be chemical or mechanical. This should:
- Remove over 80% of contaminants at a pilot stage (aiming for 90% removal when at scale) including polymer coating, backing materials, threads from leather components, sheets or shredded leather. The coated leather pieces will be in a variety of different shapes and sizes, from 3-D shaped pieces to flat sheets to shredded fibres. Ideally the technology should be suited to handle these variety of forms. However, given that these raw materials are so different, it may be that the technology is only appropriate for a single type of coated leather. If this is the case, then please identify the raw material that the technology is best suited for
- Be solvent free
- Work at <100C as anything above this would damage the leather
- Produce an output that consist of separate leather pieces or individual leather fibres
- Where possible, create waste streams that can be valorised
- Suitable for installation in a modern textile production with limited utility connections other than those usually available in a textile facility
- The factory runs 24 hours over 5 days
- Capable of being UKCA/ CE approved
The solution must/should not:
- Produce leather mass or leather powder
- Increase damage to people and Environment
- Include technologies below TRL6
- Involve creation of dusts or microplastic
- Involve any explosion or fire risk
-
Successful applicants will be given an opportunity to pitch to the Challenge holder. Selected solutions will be trialled in collaboration with the company’s R&D team with potential for further adoption if trials are successful.
The solution has potential to be deployed across two production sites in the UK.
The benefits package for a successful applicant may also include:
- Support from Innovate UK Business Connect
- Support in the development of a prototype or pilot
- Technical support
- Invitation to attend or present at Innovate UK Business Connect events
- A potential business collaboration
- Investor introductions (if investment is required)
- Support if any Innovate or similar competitions are relevant.
-
Launch of the Competition: 12th November
Deadline for applications: 2nd January
Selection and notification of finalists: 2nd February
Date of Pitch Day: TBC – (end of Feb or early March 2026)