Poultry CEO'S: You May Have a $60 Million Opportunity!

Prepared by:
Roy E. Carawan, Extension Food Specialist
North Carolina State University

and

Bill Merka, Extension Poultry Scientist
University of Georgia

Published by: North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service

Publication Number: CD-24

Last Electronic Revision: March 1996 (JWM)

As a chief executive officer, you are no doubt aware that water and sewer costs for some poultry processing plants have risen almost tenfold during the last two decades. But did you know that the upward trend is projected to continue at the same rate or higher?

Poultry processors in the United States slaughtered more than 4.6 billion broilers in 1986. Assuming that the average plant used 7 gallons of water to process each bird, 1986 water usage by the broiler industry totalled more than 32 billion gallons.

Some plants have cut water consumption and now use less than 4 gallons per bird. If all broiler plants reduced water usage to that level, the industry would save about 14 billion gallons annually, enough for a city of 100,000 people.

The wastewater from broiler plants contains many potential pollutants. In terms of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), the waste load of many plants is 65 pounds or more per thousand broilers. If the average plant discharges that much BOD5, the annual load from the broiler processing industry totals almost 300 million pounds—about as much as is produced by a city of 51/2 million people.

Some plants discharge as little as 30 pounds of BOD5 per thousand broilers. If plants reduced their discharge to that level, about 160 million pounds of BOD5 per year could be eliminated.

Opportunities To Save Money

Poultry processors are finding that water and sewer charges have increased more rapidly than most other expenses. Some poultry plants have seen water and sewer costs increase by a factor of five or ten during the past 25 years. If the entire poultry industry could successfully conserve water and reduce waste load, more than $58 million could be saved annually.

At typical water prices, cutting water use from 7 gallons to 4 gallons per bird would save about $5.70 per thousand broilers processed. Reducing the waste load from 65 pounds of BOD5 to 30 pounds would save another $7.00 per thousand broilers. Considering the 4.6 billion birds processed each year, here's how those savings add up for the industry as a whole:

* •Based on water charges of 90 cents per thousand gallons, sewer charges of $1.00 per thousand gallons, and a BODs surcharge of 20 cents per pound.

Why Is Reducing Water Use and Waste Load Especially Important Now?

Regional water shortages, new pollution regulations, and new policies on water pricing make water conservation more important now than ever before. Our southern states, where the majority of the nation's poultry is processed, struggled under a severe drought in 1986. Many plants were faced with conserving water or curtailing production.

As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tightens restrictions on the quality of water consumed and wastewater released into the environment, water costs will probably rise even more rapidly than in the past.

Water conservation and waste reduction are becoming much more important because:

• Water costs and sewer charges are on the rise;
• Water quality and availability are threatened by increased consumption and pollution in many areas;
• Pollution is being aggressively attacked by public agencies and the public at large;
• Future regulations will require water conservation and elimination of pollutant discharges;
• A corporation's image can be tarnished and its sales hurt if its plants are perceived as harming the environment.
• Enforcement actions are becoming more severe and may involve not only lawsuits and fines but even prison terms.

Questions for Your Management Team

Here are some things for your management team to consider as you think about your company's water use and waste discharges:

• Have your plants experienced a rapid rise in water and sewer charges?
• How much could you save by reducing water use from its present level to 4 gallons per broiler? How much could be saved by cutting BOD5 discharges to 30 pounds per thousand broilers?
• Do you supply your own water at some plants? How much does this water cost? Is the supply dependable? How is the quality? How will these factors affect future expansion?
• If you treat your plants' wastewater or pretreat it, have you computed what this treatment costs, including proper sludge disposal?

What Can You Do?

If you're the chief executive officer of a firm with 10 percent of the U.S. broiler production, you may have a $6 million opportunity. Reducing water use and waste load now could save you that much money next year. If water and sewer costs increase tenfold over the next decade, you may be able to save $60 million annually by 1998. Here are some suggestions to help you conserve:

• Ensure that plant managers measure water use daily or at each shift change.
• Emphasize to personnel at all levels that conserving water and reducing waste load are sound business practices.
• Appoint someone in each plant to be responsible for water conservation and waste reduction practices and for monitoring their effectiveness.
• Provide a training program for your managers and employees.
• Show by your interest and example that you take water conservation and waste reduction seriously. Helping your personnel develop the proper attitude is 90 percent of the battle. It starts at the top.

For further information, see Extension publication CD-20, Liquid Assets for Your Poultry Plant, and CD-22, Poultry Processors: You Can Cut Waste Load and Sewer Surcharges.

For copies of these and other publications in this series, call your county Extension agent or write to Food Science Extension, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7624, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7624.

This publication was supported in part by the North Carolina Board of Science and Technology in cooperation with the North Carolina Pollution Prevention Pays Program.

Distributed in furtherance of the Acts of Congress of May 8 and June 30, 1914. Employment and program opportunities are offered to all people regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. North Carolina State University, North Carolina A&T State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and local governments cooperating.

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