ALEXANDRIA, VA, April 18, 2023 – The North American Renderers Association (NARA) is proud to announce that the first National Rendering Day will be observed on April 21, 2023. NARA and National Day Calendar have issued the attached proclamation recognizing rendering with this important National day, to be celebrated every 21st of April.
The date of April 21st was specifically chosen to fall on the day before Earth Day (April 22) in order to represent the sustainable nature of the rendering industry and its contributions to food waste reduction and environmental protection.
“Rendering companies and their employees are longstanding members of their communities, improving the quality of life by volunteering and supporting local charities, providing jobs, and offering essential recycling services for farmers, restaurants and food service,” NARA President and CEO, Kent Swisher said. “Rendering upcycles by-products that would otherwise be wasted and is the purest example of the circular economy. The observance of National Rendering Day is a great way to educate the public on the efforts and strides of renderers and the positive environmental impacts of rendering.”
About Rendering
North Americans consider roughly 50% of an animal to be inedible. This leaves a lot of leftover material that ends up as food waste. Rendering reclaims this otherwise wasted material, such as protein, bone, and fat and even includes used cooking oil (UCO) from restaurants. The rendering process safely, hygienically, and sustainably processes that unused material (the meat we don’t eat) into new products and goods so nothing is wasted. When we render material we process it in a safe, hygienic, and sustainable manner. In addition, we convert what would have been food waste into material for use in a multitude of new products such as nutritious pet food and animal feed, industrial goods, and biomass-based diesel. In short, rendering is recycling.
Rendering also demonstrates respect and resourcefulness for the livestock that were raised with care by farmers. In fact, rendering shows respect for the animal itself by using every part of the animal so nothing goes to waste. Additionally, by offsetting the environmental impacts of animal agriculture through rendering, we shrink our food production footprint.
#NationalRenderingDay
By celebrating National Rendering Day on April 21st, we bring awareness to the act of reducing and eliminating food waste through rendering. On National Rendering Day we urge the larger community to learn more about what rendering means, how the rendering process works, and why using rendered products is the sustainable choice for consumers.
National Rendering Day is also a great way to show appreciation for those in the rendering industry, and to recognize and celebrate rendering’s many environmental benefits, and its important role in reducing food waste and overall sustainability.
Learn more about rendering at www.NARA.org and join NARA in spreading the word about this important day by sharing National Rendering Day with your social network using the hashtag #NationalRenderingDay.
