Feb. 1, 2002 -- EPA is proposing new wastewater discharge limits for poultry processing facilities and revised wastewater discharge limits for large meat processing facilities. The move could cost the meat and poultry processing industry about $80 million dollars annually.
These limits would reduce pollutants, particularly nitrogen, from these facilities by roughly 87 million pounds per year. The proposed standards would apply to facilities that slaughter animals and process meat or poultry into products, including meat cuts, sausage, hams, canned meats and partially cooked products such as chicken nuggets.
They also would apply to facilities that render meat and poultry by-products into edible and inedible products such as pet or animal feed.
The current MPP effluent guidelines regulation subdivides the meat slaughter and processing industry into ten subcategories (including independent rendering). Four subcategories apply to facilities that slaughter the animals and do varying amounts rendering and further processing at the same location. Five subcategories apply to facilities that only do further processing of meat, e.g. making sausages, hams or cuts. One of the five further processing subcategories applies to small further processors. Small processors are defined as facilities with production no greater than 6,000 lb/day of finished product. EPA is not proposing to revise the requirements for this subcategory. The tenth subcategory in the existing regulation applies to independent rendering facilities.
EPA's proposed regulation revises the requirements for larger meat products facilities (including independent renderers) and establishes requirements for the poultry slaughtering and processing sector.
The proposed regulations establish requirements for large meat and poultry products facilities to control the discharge of conventional pollutants [biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS), fecal coliform, hexane extractable material (measures oils and greases)], chemical oxygen demand (COD), and nutrient pollutants including ammonia as nitrogen, total nitrogen and total phosphorus.
EPA is basing the proposed requirements on the application of biological treatment including nitrification and denitrification to remove nutrients. Proposed revisions for the independent renderers subcategory would not require independent renderers to control nutrients but do require these facilities to comply with more stringent limitations for ammonia. These limitations for independent renderers are based on improved performance of the existing treatment technologies required to comply with existing regulation.
EPA is not proposing to revise existing requirements that apply to meat slaughtering or further processing facilities that have an annual production of 50 millions pound per year or less. The agency is not proposing new requirements for independent rendering facilities that render 10 million pounds of raw material per year or less.
Also, EPA is proposing to establish less stringent requirements for poultry products facilities that slaughter 10 million pounds per year or only further process 7 million pounds per year or less. The agency estimates that these smaller MPP facilities are responsible for a small fraction (3 percent of the conventional pollutants and 4 percent of the nutrients) of the overall pollutant load discharged from all MPP facilities.
EPA is not proposing to establish pretreatment standards for the MPP category. Wastewater pollutants found in MPP wastewater are generally compatible with the wastewater treatment found at Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs).
EPA believes that POTWs are capable of effectively treating MPP wastewater. However, EPA is soliciting comment on this proposal, and specifically requesting information on POTW interferences caused by MPP discharges.
EPA estimates that today's regulation will achieve a reduction in nutrients discharged by this industry of 53.9 million pound per year and conventionals by 32.7 million pounds per year. EPA estimates that 246 facilities will be affected by today's proposal, and that the proposal is economically achievable at an estimated cost of $80 million per year.
For more information, visit http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/guide/ on the Internet.
