Roland Baumann wants a common sense approach to disposing of specified risk materials that does not penalize him and other beef producers every time they sell an animal.
Baumann, president of the British Columbia Cattlemen’s Association and a member of the provincial livestock tissue waste committee, said dealing with SRMs is a costly problem for the beef industry.
The public is worried about possible BSE contamination in these materials and the beef industry worries about the expense of safe disposal.
“It is treated like nuclear waste and everybody is concerned about it,” he said.
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Disposal of brains, spinal cords and lower intestines costs more in B.C. than in Alberta because there is not enough volume to make it economical. The largest renderer, West Coast Reduction based in Vancouver, could render down all the material produced in B.C. in less than a day.
Instead, all material is sent to a collection point in the Lower Mainland, where it is shipped to a designated plant in Calgary for rendering and burial in an approved landfill.
In some northern regions of B.C., raw SRMs are sent directly to designated landfills.
“It is a very costly process and we are not sure how long some regional districts are willing to keep their licences to accept SRMs,” Baumann said.
Ken Corraini of B.C.’s agriculture ministry said the province processes 60,000 cattle per year. Collection and shipping to Calgary costs slaughter plants 10 to 16 cents a pound.
“It used to be a valuable product and now it is a high cost,” he said.
The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association estimates disposal costs $55 to $65 per animal, which the packers pass on to feedlots and are eventually reflected in the prices paid to cow-calf producers.
In 2007, B.C. joined with the federal government to provide $12.5 million so the provincial processing sector could meet the 2007 national feed ban requirements and remove brains, spinal cords and lower intestines from animal feed, pet food and fertilizer as a way to stop the spread of BSE.
Besides getting rid of SRMs, the province also wants efficient emergency carcass disposal, which is needed when avian influenza forces the killing of thousands of birds.
Pilot projects used some of the funds to try composting, rendering, anaerobic digestion and gasification.
“Many of these had temporary measures in place but they viewed them as too high in cost to be sustainable,” said Corraini in a telephone news conference March 4.
Four projects have been proposed for the Thompson region of the B.C. Interior, but only one is needed and all will be subjected to further government assessment.
Three of the four are at the point where organizers need to decide if they want to build facilities. Before construction can start public hearings and a series of environmental assessments must be conducted that follows a 17 step process developed by the agriculture ministry.
Public complaints are a major barrier to starting any project.
“We are aware of the potential urban-rural tensions,” Corraini said.
“It isn’t everybody at first blush that would want to have a rendering plant in their backyard. We know it is a challenge to satisfy the interests of all parties here.”
For more information, visit www.al.gov.bc.ca/resmgmt/srm.
