MEDIA RELEASE
13 August 2003

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LIVESTOCK WASTE - SOLUTIONS URGENTLY REQUIRED

Innovative solutions are urgently required to solve the environmental problems caused by the massive volumes of livestock waste being generated throughout the world, says CSIRO Textile and Fibre Technology's Chief Research Scientist, Dr Jock Christoe.

He told the ASTE Crawford Fund's 'Livestock Revolution' conference in Canberra today that a 50,000 acre pig farm in the US can generate more waste than Los Angeles. "In Europe, 1.2 billion tons of livestock waste is produced annually, while in China, the total solid wastes discharged from livestock farms in 1997 exceeded 1.7 billion tons with a further 20 billion tons of waste-water being discharged into the environment," Dr Christoe said. "The generation of these livestock wastes in smaller areas will continue to increase at an alarming rate, making it a matter of some urgency for industry to come to terms with its management." He said that learning how to effectively recycle livestock waste could deliver significant financial and environmental rewards. However, in order to reap those benefits the industry's approach needed to be redefined to incorporate an integrated 'cleaner production' environmental strategy. "The attitude of CSIRO is to view waste material not as a problem to dispose of, but as an opportunity to find viable by-products that make the livestock industry more effective, economic and environmentally responsible," Dr Christoe said. "The 'cleaner production' strategy takes a proactive approach to protecting the environment while improving productivity and competitiveness. Covering areas such as eco-efficiency, waste minimisation and pollution prevention, it seeks out innovative approaches to reclaiming and recycling waste products." There were a number of exciting examples of projects being undertaken around the world to trial innovative 'cleaner production' methods. These included: piggeries in the Pacific Islands harnessing mixed farming systems to integrate crop and livestock production and reclaim by-products to make fertilisers or biogas; tanneries recycling chemicals and introducing air-dry techniques to29 December, 2004ool scouring in Australia that removes contaminants, reclaims them to potting mixes, recycles sheep sweat to make natural potassium fertilisers then recycles the water used in the process. For further information, to receive the range of other media statements from the conference or to arrange interviews contact Cathy Reade at the ATSE Crawford Fund on 0413 575 934. The program, all press releases, bios and abstracts from the event are at www.crawfordfund.org

The ATSE Crawford Fund wishes to thank its sponsors and supporters for this event including: AFFA, AusAID, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, ACIAR, CRC for Innovative Dairy Products, CSIRO Livestock Industries, Dairy Australia, GRDC, IFPRI, ILRI, Meat and Livestock Australia, and University of Sydney Orange

The ATSE Crawford Fund
1 Leonard Street
Parkville 3052
Victoria Australia
T: (03) 9347 8328
F: (03) 9347 3224
E: crawford@mira.net
W: www.crawfordfund.org