Leather International
The ‘sacrifice festival’ Eid al-Adha is one of the Islamic calendar’s most important celebrations. Taking place in August, it is celebrated by slaughtering sheep, goats, or cows, and on 24 July, the Moroccan Secretary of State for Sustainable Development, Nezha El Ouafi, launched the Clean Eid Al Adha campaign.
The campaign’s purpose is to raise awareness on the importance of keeping slaughter areas clean, collecting and sealing slaughter residue in closed bags, and avoiding dumping residues in drains. Last year a similar campaign was launched, to prevent uncontrolled slaughter waste dumping, such as the organs not suitable for human consumption, skins, and bones.
This year’s campaign continues to promote environmentally sound behaviour but also has a new dimension. It is also calling on Moroccans to preserve the skins of their sacrificed sheep, so that they can be collected, treated and then used in the leather industry.
“85 % of skins are in a deteriorated condition and cannot be used,” the secretary of state said about previous Eid years, in a press release on 22 July.
“Pilot projects will be launched in the four largest cities of the Kingdom: Rabat, Fes, Marrakech, and Tangier, and the projects will then be generalised to the rest of the country,” she added.
The measures will include educational campaigns by environmental groups across Morocco on hygiene and slaughtering, and the broadcasting of an educational video on TV, news websites, and social media. The skins of slaughtered sheep will be collected and sorted after Eid.
The “Clean Eid Al Adha” campaign is organised in collaboration with the Moroccan Federation of Leather Industry (FEDIC).
