Oral paper Utilisation of seafood processing waste – challenges and opportunities

During the processing of fish, it is generally only the fillets that are retained while the bulk of the product is discarded (about two thirds of the whole weight is comprised of guts and frames). Across the seafood industry in southeastern Australia alone, there is an estimate that well over 20,000 t of fish pro duct waste is produced each year. In some instances this fish waste may be taken from the processing site to be rendered, but usually it is dumped to landfill at a cost to the processor of up to $150/t. This practice is coming under increased scrutiny due to environmental issues and is becoming an increasing cost burden for the whole industry. Hydrolysed fish waste can be composted with rock phosphate to form an organic/biological solid-phosphate fertiliser. To enable this, relationships need to be formed between seafood industry and fertiliser manufacturers. The seafood industry can process the fish offal through a cost effective hydrolysis system into a stable liquid fish concentrate. This can then be efficiently transported to fertiliser manufacturers, who then can blend this stable liquid fish concentrate with rock phosphate. The mixture can then be inoculated with bacteria and fungi using advanced composting technology. This technology has shown that temperature