Assessment of environmental practices in Serbian meat companies

Abstract

The meat industry is recognized as one of the biggest polluters in the food industry. Previous studies were much more focused on environmental impacts of the meat industry than on the environmental practices within the meat chain. The aim of this study was to assess environmental practices in Serbian meat companies. The study examined 16 slaughterhouses slaughtering 62.5% of the national production, and 14 meat processing plants contributing 58.2% of meat processing nationally. The level of implementation of environmental practices was evaluated in respect to managing energy usage, water usage, waste handling and wastewater discharge, deployed through five topics: Policy and Objectives; Operational Knowledge; Communication; Performance Measurement and Analysis. Results were examined in respect to the size and type of the meat company and their certification status. Higher levels of implementation of environmental practices were found in large companies as opposed to micro and small sized companies, in slaughterhouses compared to meat processing plants and in certified companies than in non-certified companies. Performance measurement for usage of energy, usage of water and waste water discharge scored the highest. Principal component analysis was used to reduce the dimensionality of the environmental practices into two principal components, termed 'environmental dimension' and 'economic dimension'. The 'environmental dimension' obtained higher loadings than the 'economic dimension' for most of the topics within water, waste and waste water impacts. Energy as an impact was heavily loaded on the 'economic dimension', emphasizing that companies found the greatest financial benefit in energy saving. This bottom-up approach in analyzing environmental practices on-site provides new evidence relating to the meat sector. It can help environmental specialists and managers in the meat sector, directing them as to how to improve environmental practices. Finally, our assessment tool could also motivate other food sectors in analyzing their environmental impacts.