LOW hide prices and disruptions in leather markets and supply chains have influenced Australia's beef industry to look for alternatives to sending hides to a tannery.
Rendering - the process of converting carcase byproducts not for human consumption into tallow, grease and high protein meat and bone meal - would be a good option but has been hindered by the need to break the large and bulky hides down into smaller pieces.
Solid markets for rendered product exist both domestically and overseas.
The processing sector's research and development arm, the Australian Meat Proccesor Corporation, has joined forces with Victorian operation Australian Meat Group in Melbourne, to work on a way to shred hides to a degree they can go through a meat processing rendering plant.
AMPC co-innovation manager Jemma Harper said to stop blockages in the rendering process, hides needed to be an optimal size of 16 to 20 millimetres long.
They are typically sent to tanneries in one piece so this breaking down of the hide has not before been required.
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The shredding must be able to be done in a cost-effective way, she said.
"The hide itself is ideal to add value to the rendering already taking place," Ms Harper said.
"They provide a great way of improving protein levels in the rendered product."
The project has seen shredding machines installed at the Australian Meat Group plant that are capable of doing the right job and is now looking to determine the profitability of doing so.
"The industry has worked with a few providers to develop different machines over time," Ms Harper said.
"The one proving successful uses a heavy duty shredder at the start of the process and then a lighter one that really breaks the hide down further.
"It is the first time such a process has been adopted by industry and the outcomes have been extremely successful so far, providing a great alternative for industry when hide prices decrease due to market access issues. It provides some protection against hide price volatility.
"By shredding and rendering the hide, the company has achieved a return on the carcass compared with the cost associated with sending it to landfill."
Ms Harper said the degree to which the new home for hides could reduce waste would be market driven.
"However, what this does is allow any processing plant to pivot on the spot if the hide market has dropped substantially," she said.
"If they can put all their hides through the shredder and have them go to rendering, it is a viable alternative."
- This article will feature in ACM's special Carcase Merit print publication in July.
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