A leather factory can produce a surprising amount of waste without anything actually going wrong.
A bag is cut from a hide, a shoe upper is stamped out, a leather case is trimmed, or a piece of upholstery is cut to shape. The finished product leaves the production line, while the irregular pieces left around the cutting table gradually become a pile of leather scraps.
Some pieces are still large enough to reuse.
Others are simply too small or irregular to be useful in the next production step.
This is where size reduction becomes useful.
In the video, Longhe tests a leather crusher with leather offcuts supplied by a customer. The purpose is straightforward: feed the actual material into the machine and see how it behaves under real crushing conditions.
The test is not limited to one particular leather product.
Longhe equipment can be used to process different types of leather materials, including genuine leather, leather scraps, leather offcuts, PU leather and other synthetic leather materials. The suitable machine model and screen size depend on the thickness, dimensions, toughness and required output size of the material.
From a pile of scraps to a material that is easier to handle
Leather waste is awkward mainly because of its shape.
A long trimming strip, a large irregular offcut and a small punched-out piece may all come from the same production line. Storing them as they are takes space, and feeding irregular pieces into another recycling process can also be inconvenient.
A leather shredding machine or crusher changes the physical size of the material.
Instead of dealing with large irregular pieces, the factory can produce smaller leather pieces that are easier to collect, transport, measure and feed into a subsequent process.
This does not mean that crushing alone turns leather waste into a finished recycled product.
It is a preparation step.
Depending on the recycling route, crushed leather may subsequently be used for further material processing. Existing leather recycling applications include grinding leather scraps into smaller material, combining the processed leather with binders and forming it into sheets or other products.
Research and industrial projects are also exploring more advanced uses for processed leather waste, including recycled leather materials for footwear components and composite materials.
That is why the first question for a factory is often not “Can I recycle leather?”
It is:
“How should I prepare this leather waste for the next process?”
Yes.
The leather crusher is not designed around one specific finished product. Different leather materials can be processed, provided the material dimensions and machine configuration are suitable.
Typical materials that can be considered include:
Genuine leather scraps
Leather cutting waste
Leather offcuts
Leather case scraps
Shoe leather waste
Bag and handbag cutting waste
Upholstery leather scraps
PU leather
Synthetic leather
Artificial leather
Other leather-based production scraps
For factories, this is important because production waste rarely comes in one perfectly consistent shape.
One day the waste may come from bags.
The next batch may come from wallets, shoes, furniture upholstery or leather accessories.
Rather than choosing a machine based only on the product name, it is better to evaluate the actual material.
A catalogue can tell you the motor power, chamber dimensions and screen size.
It cannot tell you exactly how your leather waste will behave.
Leather can be soft, flexible, thick, layered, coated or reinforced. Some scraps may also contain stitching, lining or other attached components. The feeding behavior and final particle size can therefore vary.
That is why Longhe provides material testing for customers who want to evaluate their own waste before purchasing.
Send the actual leather scraps.
Run the material through the selected machine.
Check the feeding behavior, crushing effect and output.
Then select the machine configuration based on the result.
For a factory generating hundreds of kilograms of leather waste, this approach is much more useful than choosing equipment simply because another company uses the same model.
The answer depends on the leather material and the customer's downstream process.
Some leather scraps can be reused directly before crushing. Once they become too small or irregular for direct reuse, size reduction opens other possibilities.
Depending on the recycling technology, processed leather can be used as a raw material for further manufacturing.
For example, leather recycling processes can grind leather scraps and combine the resulting material with binders to produce sheets or other forms of recycled material.
Research projects have also investigated leather waste as a feedstock for new composite materials and 3D-printing applications.
The important point is that a leather waste crusher does not decide the final application.
It prepares the waste.
The downstream process determines what that material eventually becomes.
Because storage does not solve the problem.
A cutting workshop can quickly accumulate bags of irregular leather pieces. Large scraps occupy considerable volume, while very small scraps are difficult to sort and handle.
After crushing, the material becomes more uniform in size and easier to collect.
For a production manager, this can make several everyday tasks simpler:
Collection: smaller material is easier to gather into containers.
Storage: reduced particle size can improve how waste is packed and stored.
Transportation: smaller processed material can be easier to move to another recycling facility.
Further processing: a more manageable feedstock can be more convenient for subsequent grinding, mixing or forming processes.
Waste classification: different leather materials can be separated before crushing and processed according to their own recycling routes.
This is particularly relevant for factories producing leather goods at scale, where scrap generation is part of the production process rather than an occasional event.
If you are considering a machine for leather waste, start with the material rather than the machine model.
Prepare samples representing the waste generated in your factory.
Include the thickest pieces, the largest pieces and the most common scraps.
Then check:
Can the material enter the feeding opening smoothly?
Does the crusher handle the leather continuously?
Is the output size suitable for the next process?
Does the selected screen produce the required particle size?
Does the selected screen produce the required particle size?
Does the machine need a different configuration for thicker material?
What capacity is required for your daily waste volume?
The answer to these questions will give you a much better basis for selecting a leather recycling machine.
If you are not sure which machine is suitable, the most reliable approach is to test your actual material.
Longhe can evaluate leather scraps, offcuts, PU leather, synthetic leather and other leather materials according to the customer's application.
The test result can then be used to discuss the appropriate crusher model and screen configuration.
For leather manufacturers, footwear factories, bag manufacturers, upholstery producers and recycling companies, the machine should fit the waste you actually produce, not an idealized sample from a catalogue.
Yes, leather can be reused or recycled, but the recycling route depends on the type and condition of the leather.Large, usable pieces can often be reused directly. Smaller production scraps can be mechanically processed and used as feedstock for other recycling processes. Some industrial processes turn ground leather waste into sheets, composites or other materials.
If the scraps are still large enough, they can be reused for products such as wallets, keychains, patches, accessories and other small leather goods.When scraps are too small or irregular for direct reuse, they can be collected for recycling or further processing. This is one reason why leather scrap recycling is an increasingly discussed topic among leathercraft users and manufacturers.
There is no single recycling method for all leather.A common mechanical route is to reduce the size of leather scraps first. The processed material can then enter a subsequent recycling process, where it may be mixed with binders or other materials and formed into new products.For industrial production, crushing is therefore often a preparation step rather than the entire recycling process.
Yes. Leather scraps can be mechanically reduced into smaller pieces using suitable crushing or shredding equipment.The appropriate machine depends on factors such as leather thickness, scrap dimensions, material structure and the required output size.
PU leather and synthetic leather need to be considered separately from genuine leather because their structures and compositions are different.They can be mechanically size-reduced, but the best recycling route depends on the material composition and the customer's downstream process.Longhe can test the actual material before recommending a suitable machine configuration.
Potentially, yes, but the complete product should first be evaluated.A finished leather product may contain zippers, metal parts, buttons, fabric lining, foam, plastic components or adhesives. These components can affect the recycling process.For industrial crushing, the material should be checked and prepared according to the machine's requirements before feeding.
Crushing reduces large or irregular leather waste into smaller pieces.The crushed material can then be collected for reuse or sent to a further recycling process. Depending on the application, processed leather waste may become part of sheets, composites or other recycled materials.
There is no universal answer.The correct output size depends on what happens after crushing.If the crushed leather will be used in another grinding, mixing or forming process, the required particle size should be determined by that downstream equipment.This is why screen selection should be based on the complete recycling process rather than simply choosing the smallest possible output.
The answer depends on your leather.The most important information is the material type, maximum scrap size, thickness, daily processing volume and required output size.If you have actual leather scraps available, material testing is usually the fastest way to determine a suitable machine.