ALEXANDRIA, VA, September 20, 2024 – The National Renderers Association (NARA) expresses its gratitude to Representatives Langworthy and Costa for their bipartisan leadership in addressing the removal of rendering from the EPA’s food waste management.
Rendering plays a critical role in recycling organic waste, producing biofuels, and ensuring food safety. Last year, rendering was excluded from the EPA’s “Wasted Food Scale” without explanation, likely due to an oversight in a third-party report. Despite efforts to provide relevant environmental data, the EPA has not yet committed to reviewing it, which is causing economic harm to the industry.
A group of 28 Members of Congress, led by Reps Langworthy (R-NY) and Costa (D-CA) sent a letter to EPA Administrator Regan, urging the agency to work with the USDA and FDA to revise the National Strategy for Food Loss and Waste, including rendering as a key component in national waste reduction strategies. In addition to NARA, over 30 other organizations support this letter including the American Association of Meat Processors, American Farm Bureau Federation, Pet Food Institute, Clean Fuels Alliance America, Energy Marketers of America, National Pork Producers, National Cattleman’s Beef Association, National Chicken Council, United Egg Producers, and the Meat Institute.
A similar bipartisan letter, signed by eight senators, was sent to Administrator Regan in May, in which U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack, and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Robert Califf expressed their concern that rendering was not included in the Draft National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics.
“NARA would like to express our gratitude to Representatives Langworthy and Costa, and this bipartisan group of members, for recognizing the longstanding and critical role rendering has played and still plays in reducing food loss and waste; and shrinking our overall food production footprint.” said Kent Swisher, NARA President, and CEO. “The North American rendering industry has been upcycling otherwise lost and wasted food since the 1800’s. We are the original recyclers and were a part of the circular economy even before the term was coined. We urge Administrator Regan and the EPA to acknowledge rendering’s important role in FLW. Leaving out rendering, our nation’s largest organic recycler, from our national food waste strategy will only hinder us from achieving America’s goal to halve food loss and waste by 2030.”
NARA remains committed to collaborating with the EPA, Congress, and stakeholders to ensure rendering’s critical role in food waste management is properly recognized.
