A sustainability charter has been launched by the European Fat Processors and Renderers Association (EFPRA), the organisation announced on 7 October.
“The time is right for EFPRA to be more explicit about our sustainability credentials,” EFPRA president Sjors Beerendonk said.
“Policies in the EU Green Deal, Farm-to-Fork Strategy and the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) all require businesses to develop sustainable products and services. Companies that align sustainable business models with the SDGs can unlock significant value in current and emerging markets.”
EFPRA’s Sustainability Charter looks at how rendering companies can build on their sustainability credentials to benefit climate, health and society in line with UN SDGs.
“The concept of a ‘Circular Bioeconomy’ is central to the charter,” EFPRA sustainability committee chairman Richard van Lijssel said.
“What that means is that residues from renewable biological resources are converted into value-added products such as food, feed or energy.”
The charter examined how rendering could provide added-value products, he said, such as specialist ingredients for pharmaceuticals, and feed for pets and livestock.
“There are certain by-products that cannot be safely returned to the food chain, but the charter has several case studies of how energy is recovered and used for heating and power generation. Wasting nothing has always been a principle of our industry,” van Lijssel added.
Every year, EFPRA members handle 18M tonnes of by-products.
