Land application of shellfish by-products

Summary

Shellfish waste currently has few, if any readily available recycling outlets. Application of the waste to agricultural land as an organic manure has been identified as the lowest cost disposal route available to the majority of the seafood industry. An in-depth review of landspreading shellfish waste was carried out in 2006 to identify the possible benefits of using shellfish on land. This included an in-depth literature review, contacting people with experience of using shellfish waste on land, analysing some shellfish samples to assess their composition etc. The study found that shellfish could have benefit in land application for agricultural purposes and that it remained a viable outlet for shellfish waste providing compliance with legal constraints such as animal by-product legislation and waste management licensing is demonstrated. This report provides an overview of the information collected, including summarising shellfish properties and beneficial properties to land. It also provides an overview of how permission for the land application of shellfish by-products can be obtained.

Author

• ADAS

Publication Reference No.

SR586

Publication date

01 August 2006