Key points from last week’s post, Beef upcycles well Link, are reinforced in this article from Jennifer M. Latzke. Without the rendering industry, America would fill to capacity every one of its landfills in four years just with the offal and other parts of cattle that don’t go into the butcher’s meat case, she writes.
This was one key point from a peer-reviewed study outlining the environmental, social and economic benefits the rendering industry provides.
Source: BEEF, September 1, 2021. Link. Our carbon intensity is a lot lower, because we are recycling products that would otherwise go into a landfill,” Swisher says. Rendering reclaims not only the offal from the meat processing industry, but also reclaims used cooking oil from restaurants and outdated meat from grocery stores, and turns that into about 31.4 billion pounds of fat, oil and protein products each year for use in animal feed, pet food, biofuel and more.”
Rendering finds a sustainable and high-value purpose for every part of the cow but the “moo.”
INSIGHTS: With an economic contribution of $10 billion annually in the U.S., the rendering industry must pull its weight to serve livestock producers well.