National Campaign to Collect and Valorize Leather from Aïd Al Adha Resumes After Two-Year Hiatus

After two years of complete paralysis that led to the massive waste of sacrificial hides, the national campaign to collect and valorize leather from Aïd Al Adha is back in operation this year. However, the operation will be limited to the governorates of Sfax and Manouba, with the ambition of relaunching a strategic sector for Tunisia's economy.

Speaking on the radio, Wajdi Dhouib, President of the National Chamber of Leather and Footwear, announced the grand return of the campaign to valorize the hides of Aïd Al Adha. For this relaunch phase, the operation will be limited exclusively to the regions of Sfax and Manouba.

This restart is the result of a mobilization of civil society, supported by a positive reaction from the direction of the National Center for Leather and Footwear (CNCC). To ensure the conservation and sorting of the collected hides, the CNCC has already made 15 tons of salt available. The Chamber's goal is to draw lessons from this local experience to generalize the campaign again at the national level as soon as next year.

This resumption marks a turning point after a brutal stoppage. During the past two years, the program had exhausted itself to the point that "all the hides ended up in public landfills," lamented Wajdi Dhouib.

Initially launched in 2018, this joint initiative (CNCC, trade union, municipalities, and civil society) had become a crucial appointment. It not only allowed for the preservation of neighborhood cleanliness during the festive days but also represented a breath of fresh air for the local industry by limiting the use of imported raw materials, thus preserving the state's foreign exchange reserves.