In this issue The Envirowise Advice Line answers questions from the food and drink industry:
Q. As a food processor we would like to know if there are any alternatives for the disposal of meat other than incineration. We are quite concerned at the amount of energy we’re using to do this.
A. The Animal By-Products Regulations 2003 provide health rules concerning animal by-products not intended for human consumption. The purpose of the legislation is to safeguard public and human health and ensure the safe disposal (which includes collection, transport, storage, handling, processing and use) of animal by-products.
Material that is no longer intended for human consumption from food retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors is required to be disposed of in accordance with the Regulations i.e. by treatment such as:
- incineration
- approved rendering
- biogas
- composting plant
- approved pet food or technical plants depending on its suitability.
“Former foodstuffs of animal origin” (e.g. ready-to-eat food - sandwiches, pastas and pizzas containing meat or fish or any other animal products including contaminated packaging) can still be disposed of to landfill providing measures are taken to exclude raw meat and raw fish [granted by the EU 14.06.05],
The Regulations prohibit the feeding of meat, fish and most other products of animal origin to ruminants, pigs or poultry and make it an offence to allow them to have access to such material.
Q. Our company produces salads, and plastic is our biggest waste product. We currently don’t recycle anything and want to know where to start.
A. It is important to ensure that, before recycling, you have reduced as much waste as possible, through:
- waste elimination – eliminating unnecessary or excessive packaging materials
- waste reduction – reducing the amount of packaging material to the lowest practical weight whilst ensuring product protection.
Only once this is done is it sensible to look at recycling. Companies that have not looked at waste minimisation first can often find that they invest in recycling schemes when they could have saved more through waste minimisation.
Download our publication GG349 Water minimisation in the food and drink industry
There should be a number of recyclers in your local area that can take most plastic wastes, certainly all plastic packaging wastes. It may be worth asking them if there is value in supplying baled plastics or if they prefer it loose. They will provide a container and collection for the plastic material. This normally will be at a value or free. Occasionally a small transportation cost may be imposed but this will be far lower than the equivalent landfill cost. Landfill tax will be rising each year for foreseeable future.
You will need to ensure that waste streams are segregated, free from contamination such as food and sometimes paper or other labels, though increasingly recyclers are becoming more capable of dealing with certain types of contamination.
You are reminded that it is a legal requirement to obtain copies of their Waste Carriers License (issued by the Environment Agency) and their Waste Management License or Exemption (either issued by the Environment Agency or prior to 1996 the local authority)
Click here to find out how to reduce your waste
Find out more about recycling and waste from defra
Visit RecyclePlastic to find a local Recycler
Q. My company is a food producer wanting to apply for a royal warrant for one of our products. We have been asked to provide an environmental policy document. Could you provide some advice on how to do this?
A. The purpose of the environmental policy statement is to concisely state the company’s commitment to good environmental management and its commitment to minimising the impacts on the environment that arise from its activities.
The policy statement should ideally fit on one side of A4, contain commitments to comply with applicable legislation, to continuously improve and to prevent pollution. You may also like to include some of your specific environmental impacts such as how you deal with waste on site and use of organic ingredients in some products.
For further help, download our guide GG344 Setting up an environmental management system in the food and drink industry
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