Animal By-product Material

Animal By-products (ABP) are animal carcasses, parts of animals, or other materials which come from animals but are not meant for humans to eat. They can either be destroyed (i.e. through Incineration) or can be used to make compost in a Composting facility or Biogas in an Anaerobic Digestion facility or can be used to make other products such as MBM. For more detail on the underpinning legislation and the types of waste 'captured' go to Animal By-Products (Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2011.

ABPs are divided into 3 categories and need specific approvals alongside other approvals when processing them:

• Category 1 - High Risk: materials include; body parts suspected of infection with transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, specified risk materials and international catering wastes
• Category 2 - High Risk: materials include; animals rejected from abattoirs with infectious diseases, carcasses of dead livestock, manure and digestive tract content
• Category 3 - Low Risk: materials include; carcasses or body parts passed fit for humans to eat (at a slaughter house), catering waste, processed animal proteins (PAP)

There are specific requirements for using ABPs in a Composting facility or Biogas/Anaerobic Digestion facility which is regulated by APHA. If the site treats Category 3 ABPs or Category 2 ABPs (that have first been pressure rendered at an approved site) then EU standards for treatment must be met, which also applies to MBT sites where compost is used on or over land. EU standards are:

• treat ABPs at 70^oC for an hour with maximum particle size of 12mm
• sterilise Category 2 ABPs at 133^oC with 3 bar pressure for 20 minutes
• compost in a closed vessel system approved (as part of site approval) by APHA
• include a pasteurisation stage in Anaerobic Digestion of Category 3 ABPs

If only Category 3 catering waste and Category 2 ABPs including manure, digestive tract, dairy product, eggs and egg products, are to be processed then UK standards can be applied:

System	Min. Temp.	Min. time at min. temp.	Max. particle size
In vessel composting	60oC	2 days	400mm
Biogas/AD	57oC	5 hours	50mm
In vessel composting or Biogas/AD	70oC	1 hour	60mm
Composting	60oC	8 days	400mm

Catering waste itself can be treated in two different ways, associated with whether it is 'meat-excluded' or 'non-meat-excluded', and these bring other requirements most notable that non-meat-excluded catering wastes must undertake a two stage process, the first of which must be in an In vessel composting system.