HIGH RIVER, Alta. — A new processing plant that will burn specified risk materials to generate power is being built by Cargill Meat Solutions at High River.
Construction has started on this first-of-a-kind project, which is expected to open May 2012. It will handle up to 50 million pounds of the material and supply 80 percent of the meat processor’s energy needs.
The company estimates it will eliminate 21,000 tonnes of fossil fuel emissions annually, said Bill Buckner of Cargill’s head office in Minneapolis.
The federal government provided a $10 million loan, while the company and other funders such as the Alberta Meat and Livestock Agency put up $25 million, plant manager Scott Entz said earlier today at the Cargill site.
Cargill kills 100,000 cows each year and all SRMs must be removed.
SRMs are believed to harbour the BSE causing prion and include the skull, nerve tissues, brain, eyes, tonsils, spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia of cattle older than 30 months and the distal ileum of cattle of all ages. The material is now shipped to Calgary where it is rendered in a dedicated facility and the final product is sent to a special landfill in central Alberta.
The federal investment came through the slaughter waste innovation program, which makes $40 million available to support and adopt new technologies or processes to reduce costs of dealing with SRMs.
