Processing Animal Products

The manufacturing of animal products for human consumption (meat and dairy products) or for other human needs (leather), leads inevitably to the production of waste.

Most processes in slaughterhouses, tanneries and dairy plants require the use of water, furthermore, water will be used for general cleaning purposes. The strength and composition of the pollutants in the waste water depend on the nature of the processes involved. The three main polluting components are: (1) Biodegradable organic compounds causing reduction of the amount of dissolved oxygen; (2) Macro-nutrients (N and P) causing eutrophication; and (3) toxic compounds causing direct damage to aquatic life.

The solid waste is produced in animal processing is mainly organic waste, depending on the product and the situation these could be converted into useful by products or could be composted. Solid toxic compounds require special dumping arrangements.

Animal processing causes air pollution in the form of greenhouse gases (CO2 from the use of fossil energy), dust from handling powdered material and smell from waste water treatment and rotting material.

The processing of animal products into products for human consumption or other human needs leads inevitably to the production of waste. Frequently processing takes place only at a small scale, this results in only small quantities of waste which do not cause a serious environmental problem. As a consequence of the increasing emphasis on large-scale production considerable greater amounts of waste will be produced and steps will have to be taken to keep this production at acceptable levels.

The following three main animal products processing industries are considered:

- Slaughterhouses
- Tanneries
- Milk processing plants

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