Rendering facilities usually deal with the normal dead-stock from Canadian farms, but widespread fear of viruses and other infections has dramatically reduced the market for meat and bone meal products.  Many facilities no longer accept carcasses or parts of carcasses from certain animal species and require farmers to guarantee that animal carcasses are “clean” and free of veterinary sulpha-based drugs.

Consequently, Canadian farmers face a shrinking market for their dead-stock, increased off-site disposal fees, and higher transportation expenses due to rising fuel costs.  Added to economic problems are environmental concerns.  Neighbouring communities are understandably worried about local transportation of possibly infected dead-stock, and of the risk of contamination of soil and groundwater through burial of infected animals.

Seeking Solutions through S&T

On-farm cremation is a potential solution to this problem.  Scientists and engineers at Environment Canada’s Environmental Science and Technology Centre (ESTC) are working with provincial agencies, universities and the private sector to investigate the environmental impacts of on-farm dead animal cremation units, ensuring they are environmentally safe and can meet current provincial and national guidelines.  Air emissions of toxic substances, potential concentrations of chemicals in the ash, and the fate of pathogens, spores and infectious diseases from cremation are all areas of investigation.

Between 2003 and 2006, several such units were studied under a voluntary program that involved a level of testing unprecedented in North America.  Working with the University of Guelph, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, ESTC experts used mobile and specialized laboratory equipment to characterize the air emissions and ash residues from four units engaged in poultry and swine cremation.

They measured smog-related compounds such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide, as well as acid gases, particulate matter, dioxins and furans, persistent organic pollutants, metals including mercury, and other toxic substances targeted under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (1999) for virtual elimination from the environment.  Their test methods were those developed and standardized by Environment Canada, including the Reference Method for Source Testing:  Measurement of Releases of Semi-volatile Organic Compounds from Stationary Sources.  This is the most widely accepted within government, academia and industry for the measurement of organic compounds with boiling points above 100°C.

Results for all four cremation units demonstrated that ground-level concentrations for each of the reported pollutants were substantially below maximum allowable concentrations.  Data were measured against the limits permitted in Ontario for air contamination emitted by a source that impinges on a building or beyond the property line.  Investigators noted that the impact will depend on the capacity of the unit, meteorological conditions, surrounding terrain and specified areas of potential impact (receptor points).

Results also indicated that significant reductions in atmospheric emissions can be achieved by optimizing small cremator units for efficiency and specific conditions at each locale.  An on-site cremation unit with an afterburner, a device that improves the burning of carbon compounds in exhaust gases, represents the best available technology for animal remains disposal.

Transforming Knowledge into Action

Who can use these results?

Results were published in agricultural industry newsletters, presented during industry-related conferences, and shared with federal and provincial departments responsible for agricultural, environmental and health issues.  The scientific data from studies conducted by EC will provide provincial officials with some of the required information to make policy-related decisions regarding dead animal cremation.

Some provinces, including Ontario, are considering permitting cremation as an accepted disposal method for all livestock, provided it does not have an adverse effect on the environment.  Specifically, the Province of Ontario is exploring options for allowing cremation of dead animal disposal under the Province’s Nutrient Management Act for farmers and the Food Quality and Safety Act, 2001 for slaughterhouses.

Communicated to the agricultural industry, the information provides a tool to evaluate the science and economics of various disposal options, and helps farmers to be ready if on-farm cremation becomes legalized.

Benefits to Canadians

Canada’s agricultural industry is important to the economic well-being of Canadians.  At the national level, an economically viable solution to a potentially costly problem contributes to the continued competitiveness and prosperity of Canadian agriculture.

At the local level, on-site solutions will reduce the movement of trucks to pick up carcasses, enhancing biosecurity by decreasing the transmission of infectious diseases in agriculture and livestock.  Enhanced biosecurity benefits Canadians living near farm operations.  On-site cremation also benefits Canadians living on and near farms by providing a safer environmental alternative  to methods that pose a risk to groundwater and local water supplies: for example, on-site burial.

For more information:

Environmental Science and Technology Centre’s source emission research

Environment Canada.  1989.  Reference Method for Source Testing:  Measurement of Releases of Semi-volatile Organic Compounds from Stationary Sources.

Environment Canada, Virtual Elimination List (CEPA 1999)

Cianciarelli, D. and C. House.  2006.  Characterization of Emissions from an Animal Crematorium Waste Spectrum Usk.  Environment Canada, Report ERMD 2006-01, May 2006.

Cianciarelli, D. and G. Marson.  2006.  Characterization of Emissions from an Animal Crematorium Shenandoah A850.  Environment Canada, Report ERMD 2005-03, March 2006.

S&T Liaison | Tel 905 315 5228 | Fax 905 336 4420
© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of Environment, 2008.
Catalogue No. En164-17/2-2008E-PDF; ISBN 978-0-662-48357-1