Food waste disposal accounts for an astonishing one-third of the world’s total food supply. From the meat we don’t eat to billions of pounds of used cooking oil (UCO), reducing waste in the food production, distribution, and service industries is crucial for enhancing food waste sustainability throughout North America.
Fortunately, the rendering industry plays a significant role in minimizing waste throughout the food system. By partnering with businesses to collect discarded scraps, fats, and oils, many food waste materials are safely and sustainably repurposed — and in impressive numbers.
From Scrap to Sustainability
In North America, as much as 50% of an animal is considered inedible. So, what happens to all that waste? Local partnerships between rendering firms and various businesses—including meat lockers, packing plants, restaurants, and grocery stores—result in the collection and safe recycling of up to 56 billion pounds of discarded animal by-products. As a result, massive amounts of food waste are diverted from ending up in our landfills.
Used Cooking Oil Turned Clean, Green Energy
As a part of the organized pickup of discarded food waste by renderers, more than just recycled organics (think rendered animal fat and protein) are targeted. Within the food production and restaurant industries, another large-scale source of waste is used cooking oil (UCO). In fact, frying oil is changed as often as daily in commercial kitchens. However, with the help of oil rendering, an impressive 1.6 billion pounds of UCO is recycled each year — producing 15% of America’s low-carbon biodiesel and renewable diesel.
Ultimately, a greater adoption of rendering as an alternative to landfilling means vast amounts of food, which would otherwise be considered waste, is given a new purpose. To learn more about each stage of the rendering process, and the various renderer-business partnerships that make it happen, take a look at our infographic: The Story of Rendering.
