Agriculture and Environment: Beef

Environmental Impacts of Production: Slaughter & Tanning Industries

The expansion of the global cattle industry has been paralleled by the vigorous growth of the beef slaughter and leather industries.

The waste from both slaughter houses and tanneries is rich in organic matter and hence poses serious public health concerns if discharged into the environment without appropriate treatment.

In the United States more than 20,000 cattle hides are tanned per day. Some 23.5% of these are processed with vegetable tannins. The remainder is tanned with chromium, a pollutant categorised as a heavy metal.

Chromium contamination
Though tanneries in the United States are also required to treat their effluent before it is discharged (Conner et al. 1999), tannery effluents in many parts of the world are high in chromium and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) levels. Chromium contamination of the water sources of the surrounding areas harms both humans and wildlife.