Crustacea Processing Waste Management

Summary

With changes in waste legislation, shellfish waste management has become increasingly difficult and expensive. This has significantly affected the shellfish processing sector, particularly the crustacea sector as there is a lack of cost-effective outlets for their waste. Disposal costs of more than £60 per tonne are common, which is not economically viable for many businesses. To establish whether it is possible for UK processors to generate an income or reduce the costs of crustacea waste disposal, Seafish initiated a project to look at the range of options available for crustacea waste management and identify which have potential for the UK processing sector. The project looked at all the crustacea species processed in the UK and the range of products or extracts that can be produced. The project identified two main options for crustacea waste management; use or disposal as ‘waste’ off-site or making it available for use in other products. Each option has its own issues; legalities, technical feasibility, outlets for the products etc. On the basis of the information collected, it will continue to be difficult for the crustacea processing industry to cost-effectively meet the demands of waste disposal legislation for the foreseeable future. Many different routes have and are being explored, but no breakthrough technology or solution has emerged. There are some opportunities to generate a financial return from crustacea waste, but investments in capital and the requirements for effective management remain a significant hurdle to achieving a return on investment. There is no single, simple, cost-effective solution for crustacea waste management. This report summarises the main finding of the project. Further detailed information is available on the Seafish B2B website (Gaining Value from Crustacea Waste Project). This includes an Excel workbook which will be periodically updated with new information as it becomes available. The spreadsheet can be accessed at http://www.seafish.org/b2b/info.asp?p=102

Authors

• Michaela Archer,
• David Russell (FPKTN)

Publication Reference No.

SR593

Publication date

01 January 2008