We Can Manage: Examining Offal Waste Management Pathways For Washington State
The accumulation of waste in landfills is one of the largest human-related sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. A crucial element of this issue is the high quantity of organic waste and recyclable material that finds its way into landfills, when sustainable management options are available. The aim of this research was to identify current practices associated with offal (animal flesh, carcasses, or byproducts of meat processing), and the potential for the standardization of more sustainable strategies for managing this type of organic waste. Additionally, it seeks to identify the most common barriers associated with sustainable options of offal management and examine possible solutions. While working with Zero Waste Washington as a policy research intern, I focused on literature review, meeting with professionals from the Washington State Department of Agriculture and attended an educational session to produce data surrounding the potential for challenges and success in offal waste management for Washington State. The resulting information highlighted on-farm composting operations as one of the best possible solutions to dealing with this waste. I was then able to identify the barriers to its widespread implementation into three main categories of policy-related, educational, and financial. Considering these three categories, I utilized my data and research to explain potential routes to success in the face of these barriers. Finding success in offal waste management may allow for a precedent of sustainability to be set when dealing with organics, and even further into recyclables.
