Valorising Saline Waste Streams in Red Meat Processing

Challenge

Problem

Saline waste streams present significant environmental and operational challenges within the red meat processing industry. Two key sources of saline waste are:

1. Salting process for skins/hides: As a preservation method during processing skins and hides are tumbled in salt. Waste salt is difficult and costly to dispose of
2. Reverse osmosis (RO) system purge: RO systems are utilised by industry for water recycling and a by-product is a saline concentrate (purge). This purge often lacks viable reuse pathways and requires specialised disposal. A common method of disposal relies on evaporation, needing approved storage areas with no leakage and sufficient land availability

These two waste streams are not only difficult to dispose of, but also pose challenges and risk to compliance.

Proposed Solution

AMPC are seeking innovative, scalable, and cost-effective solutions that could:

• Recover or repurpose salt waste from hide processing (e.g., salt reclamation, industrial reuse, mineral extraction)
• Identify beneficial uses or treatment technologies for RO saline purge (e.g., agricultural applications, brine mining, crystallisation)
• Enable valorisation through circular economy models, collaboration with other industries, or transformation into saleable by-products
• Reduce environmental impact or disposal costs associated with these saline waste streams

AMPC are seeking solutions that:

• Span combination of new technologies, process integration, supply chain collaborations, or are novel business models
• Are low-cost or have a clear ROI for processors
• Could be handled offsite by a third party (eg. collected or processed externally)
• Are easy to manage, operate, or integrate into existing plant systems, including realistic CAPEX/OPEX
• Reduce environmental risk and regulatory burden

AMPC are not seeking solutions that:

• Create another waste stream that would be costly or complex for processors to manage
• Require significant capital investment or highly complex on-site operations
• Rely heavily on chemical addition, especially if it introduces further environmental or disposal challenges
• Require extensive land area or long term onsite storage expansion

Potential Impact

Finding a solution to these two saline waste streams will help processors:

• Reduce environmental impact, regulatory compliance burdens and disposal costs of saline waste
• Improve environmental outcomes through reduced saline discharge or landfill
• Create new revenue streams, by-product recovery, value-adding or resource efficiencies from what is currently a waste output
• Contribute to industry goals in sustainability, circular economy, and emissions reduction
• Free up land and operational capacity currently dedicated to saline waste management of RO purge in evaporation ponds

Proposal Requirements

Proposals should:

• Present a clear, innovative solution for utilising sheep skins and beef hides
• Demonstrate the potential for increased returns for processors
• Include detailed descriptions of the proposed applications and technologies
• Highlight the feasibility and scalability of the proposed solution

Submission Details

Interested parties are invited to submit their proposals through the Leading Edge Only platform. The submission should include:

• A comprehensive description of the proposed solution
• Evidence of the solution's potential impact on increasing returns from skins and hides
• Any supporting data or research that validates the proposal