PIONEERS
IN RECYCLING
The recycling process helps transform the waste from the meat industry. Not only does it prevent severe damage to the environment caused by the pollution it may generate, but it also increases the value and provides materials for other industries.
ABOUT THE CHAMBER.
The Chamber of Livestock Byproducts of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange was founded in 1921. It is a non-profit organization, which has had different cycles and participated in the grease market and even in the leather market.
We hold an office in the building of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange and represent 30 partner companies.
It is basically composed of processors and producers of varying sizes and, some years ago, it became Supporting Member of the World Renderer Association and the North American Renderer Association, https://nara.org/, participating in the annual events in the USA.
Together with colleagues from Brazil and Mexico, at the beginning of 2019, we signed the incorporation of CLIRSA, “Consejo Latinoamericano de la Industria del Reciclaje de Subproductos Animales, A.C.” (Latin American Council for the Animal Byproducts Recycling Industry, Inc.)
We have organized 3 Congresses in the country, attended by industry professionals, businessmen and technicians from the 5 continents. The last event took place on February 28, 2019, in Mar del Plata.
.jpg)
Background.
Brief review about the recovery of waste from food animal slaughtering (cattle, poultry and pork).
In the process of slaughtering animals for human consumption, there is some waste left which is not used for direct consumption and which slaughterhouses throw out, for example: viscera, lungs, spleen, bowels, and bones which are not part of meat. This waste is transported by trucks to specialized facilities where they are treated, together with the waste generated in butcher shops.
The processing of waste from animal slaughtering is very old and it was handcrafted until halfway through the 19th century. Tallow was made into candles, it was used as fuel for torches in lighting, it was made into soap and used as lubricant, and the grease from meat trimming was used for frying.
In the past, slaughterhouses included this process. But all the scraps from butcher shops and from small slaughters in inland towns had no industrial processing, so they ended up in landfields, thus generating pollution from decomposition.
This way, butchers started to gather that surplus and to process it to obtain other products. Besides its economic added value, it helps protect the environment.
Processing and recycling plants go through a first step called mincing; then the product enters the “Digestor”, where all the product is cooked and 50 % of the water volume is evaporated. In current continuous processing equipment, operating temperature is about 120 °C, which, besides eliminating all bacterial processes, it allows for fat separation. Two products are obtained from this separation: tallow (liquid fat) and solids (proteins). A huge amount of products, that varying industries transform, come from these two new raw materials: soap - food - pet food - oleochemicals - fertilizers and biodiesels.
Basic Diagram.
International Standards.
The demands for quality from the different markets for tallow and meals, together with increasingly demanding production standards controlled by the National Service of Agrifood Health and Quality (SENASA), or from the controllers of liquid or gaseous discharges like Organismo Provincial para el Desarrollo Sostenible, (OPDS, Provincial Agency for Sustainable Development), or from Acumar, an agency which controls pouring into Matanza and Riachuelo rivers, and from the municipalities of each district, all drive the industry into the investment in technologies available worldwide, for the processing and treatment of liquid discharges.
Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility.
From the Cámara de Subproductos Ganaderos we work with those organizations, businesses and agencies in charge of transporting and disposing of the waste from the meat industry, in order to bring the best practices to environmental care. Likewise, we are in constant contact with national, provincial and local authorities, as well as with controlling authorities, in order to contribute to the creation and development of the specific regulatory framework needed to improve the industry and its technological development, which is essential to boost its exporting capacity.
As a combined effort with national, provincial and local authorities, we held the first meeting between SENASA, ACUMAR and OPDS in late 2019. There, we searched for agreements and submitted investment plans in the sector so as to be able to comply with present regulations.
