Gallery: Inside Bangladesh's Polluted, Billion-Dollar Leather Industry

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    Adib Chowdhury
    01

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    Workers wash leather hides in open pits while wearing no shoes or gloves.
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    Adib Chowdhury
    02

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    A worker staples leather for drying. This batch will be used for handbags and wallets.
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    Adib Chowdhury
    03

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    Children play on mounds of leather scraps littering Hazaribagh.
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    Adib Chowdhury
    04

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    A worker removes a newly pressed hide from a machine.
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    Adib Chowdhury
    05

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    Animal carcasses are tied together into bags that are then dumped. The rotting carcasses draw in wild dogs and other animals, often bringing disease.
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    Adib Chowdhury
    06

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    One of the main sewage pipes in Hazaribagh leaks water into the Buriganga River.
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    Adib Chowdhury
    07

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    Villagers dry leather from the factories.
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    Adib Chowdhury
    08

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    Hassan Ali, age 11, collects leftovers from the carcasses of animals used for leather hides.
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    Adib Chowdhury
    09

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    A woman collects dried leather.
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    Adib Chowdhury
    10

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    A man prepares to slaughter a goat and sheep for their leather.
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    Adib Chowdhury
    11

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    Workers mix skins inside pits fllled with chemicals.
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    Adib Chowdhury
    12

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    These steel drums are filled with toxic chemicals like chromium, which is used to tan leather.
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    Adib Chowdhury
    13

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    A worker presses a leather hide.
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    Adib Chowdhury
    14

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    Locals transport leather in carts.
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