No fallen stock scheme for Poultry

Although no official announcement has been made yet, and negotiations between the poultry industry and government continue, it now seems likely that Defra's national fallen stock scheme will not include poultry due to a large shortfall in funds.

But the poultry sector's share of the promised £10 million government funding—worth £1.8 million—has been ring-fenced for the industry to help producers meet the cost of alternative disposal methods. Initial thoughts were that this money could be used to subsidise the use of existing collection and rendering services but the egg industry is taking the view that most producers are likely to use incinerators.

The EU Animal By-Products regulation made it an offence to bury fallen stock from May last year but producers who already have incinerators may not escape having to invest further money on dead bird disposal as new rules threaten to outlaw many of those currently in operation.

It would seem the problem arises because of a requirement to heat flue gasses to 850ºC and retain this temperature for at least two seconds. Most modern incinerators will have no problem meeting the temperature but the time will cause major problems because of the speed such hot gases reach.

One manufacturer has calculated that a 50 Kilo/hour incinerator will require a four metre after burner fitted plus extra burners, adding an additional conversion cost of £2000 to an existing incinerator, while the cost of a new low throughput incinerator will increase to levels few farmers will be able to contemplate.

These tough new rules are thought to be a result of Defra officials relying on standards already adopted for large scale local authority waste disposal incinerators which require the 2.5 second flue gas retention for dealing with toxic chemicals.

The exemption until the end of the year for existing incinerators will be of little comfort when farmers realise that not only will they have to register their equipment and seek approval but their running costs will increase dramatically at a time they are being exalted to reduce energy. In addition it is likely that they will be charged £850 to make an application plus a further £707 for "subsistence".