CPCB guidelines for disposal of carcasses of livestock

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CPCB indicates unsafe disposal of cattle 

Objectives of Carcass disposal plant

• To prevent bird-hit  hazards to civil and defence aircrafts
• To prevent environmental pollution and spread of livestock diseases
• To reduce better quality hides and skins through timely recovery, better handling and transport
• Mandatory under prevention and control of infectious and contagious disease in the animal act, 2009 to dispose-off the fallen animals/ carcasses properly
• To provide an opportunity for employment to the poorest of the poor engaged in caress collection, flaying and by-product processing.

Key findings 

As per Central Pollution Control Board, about 30% of India’s dead cattle and 40% of goats weren’t flayed and nearly nine million bovine hides were “lost annually due to non-recovery

Environmental Hazards and accidents due to carcasses 

• Carcasses, especially those that result from the animal slaughter, are an ‘environmental hazard’ and are partly to blame for ‘bird-hit’ hazards at airports
• The guidelines also state that there were nearly 25 million head of cattle including buffalo that died of natural causes. 
• However, there wasn’t any organised system of disposal and it had become a major environmental hazard
• While the hide was mostly removed for leather, the carcasses were frequently left to “putrefy in the open” and attracted “vultures and dogs polluting the environment and creating environmental hazards. This open dumping attracted birds which can cause air accidents

Key provisions of draft guidelines

• It requires carcasses of livestock to be disposed off in incinerators and municipal authorities must ensure that such facilities are set up and made available.
• As per the guidelines, the other methods of disposal were incineration and ‘deep burial’.
• Flaying of cattle could yield more commercial opportunities, for instance, ‘meat-meal, bone-meat and technical fat’. 
• The process, however, would require setting up more ‘carcass utilisation plants’ where the parts of the animal could be used to make tallow, nutritional supplements and fertilizer.
• It also stated that  State PCBs would have to ensure that carcasses were being disposed of properly