Leather tanners who purchased raw hides from foreign sources for processing regularly found themselves out of regulatory compliance with respect to pesticide levels in their wastewater. Pesticides are added by cattle farmers and slaughterhouses to protect the freshly skinned hides from bacterial and insect attack. The embedded chemicals pass along the entire value‐chain in the leather industry and some end up in wastewater wherever a washing stage occurs. There was no intra‐sector communication and negotiation framework to solve this problem, as each link in the value‐chain acted independently. Ultimately the added cost of sophisticated wastewater treatment at the tanning stage exceeded the value of the product, and contributed to the decline of the industry in the UK. The problem could have been solved if life‐cycle management systems had been in place. An industry‐wide initiative relating to chemical use throughout the product cycle could have been negotiated. Individual tanners could have spent more time managing their supply‐chain. Government regulation could have addressed the root causes, i.e. slaughterhouse practice, rather than applying wastewater standards at the tanning end‐point. Lack of appreciation of the life‐cycle management concept and the absence of a life‐chain partnership meant that none of the above were applied at the time.