The province is providing $500,000 to help BC abattoirs deal with waste animal tissue following slaughter.
“This is great news,” says Nova Woodbury, executive director of the BC Association of Abattoirs, one of a number of industry representatives who advised the province on the funding. “Animal hide prices are low, options for waste disposal are increasingly limited and disposal costs are increasing.”
The funds are the residue of the $5 million Livestock Waste Tissue Initiative the province set up under the BC Waste and Specified Risk Material Handling and Disposal Strategy in 2005.
The program aimed to support processors adapting to new government regulations regarding the disposal of animal tissue. A portion was then made available to municipalities and the program has now been “revitalized” to assist processors.
The funding provides up to $40,000 per applicant to cover half the cost of projects including composting systems, cold storage and transport systems specifically for livestock waste tissue and infrastructure upgrades directly related to livestock waste tissue disposal systems.
All licensed abattoirs located in BC are eligible to apply, as well as BC processors handling Specified Risk Materials (SRM), not-for-profit organizations representing the abattoir and livestock sectors and Indigenous organizations with direct connections to abattoirs and meat processors.
Woodbury says several of her members intend to apply when applications open September 8. The deadline for submissions is September 25 at 4:30pm. Program details are available at [https://iafbc.ca/livestock-waste-tissue-initiative/].
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