Reduction of ABP Waste Through Product Transformation

Animal By-Products (ABPs) are an unavoidable consequence of the meat industry. Unlike many other waste streams, their generation cannot simply be eliminated through conventional waste-reduction measures, as slaughtering operations inherently produce materials which, unless an alternative use can be identified, ultimately enter the ABP waste stream and require treatment or disposal.

Recognising this challenge, the Public Abattoir has adopted an approach based on waste prevention, resource efficiency and circularity. Rather than focusing solely on how ABPs are managed once they become waste, the initiative seeks to intervene at an earlier stage by identifying materials that can be safely retained within productive use, thereby preventing them from entering the waste stream in the first place.

The environmental benefit of this approach is demonstrated through production of various foodstuffs from previously discarded ABPs. In 2025 alone, approximately 14 tonnes of swine blood were transformed into Mazzit rather than entering the ABP waste stream for incineration. This approach also extends to tripe, sweetbread, lard, pig skin and caul fat: tripe and sweetbread are prepared for food use, fat is rendered into lard, pig skin is transformed into pork crackling, and caul fat is retained for culinary use. Together, these materials, including the blood used in Mazzit production, have resulted in 63 tonnes of waste being diverted from incineration at the Public Abattoir in 2025 alone. This demonstrates that, even within an industry where the generation of potential ABPs is unavoidable, their entry into the waste stream does not always have to be.

The significance of Mazzit is particularly important to this project. Its recognition under the EU Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) scheme demonstrates the extent to which perceptions of potential waste can be transformed. A material that might otherwise have required disposal has instead been put to beneficial use in preserving an edible product rooted in Maltese history and culinary heritage. Mazzit and the other food uses therefore provide tangible examples of the project’s central principle: materials should not be treated as waste where a safe, beneficial and sustainable use can be identified for them.

This principle also extends beyond food production. Hides are being collected for transformation into parchment, reviving a long-lost resource that is highly sought after in the restoration sector. The parchment is produced in collaboration with the Notarial Archives Foundation and the Xirka Produtturi Nagħaġ u Mogħoż, linking resource recovery with the preservation of documentary heritage.

A further project is underway to explore the use of bones and pig bristles—materials with no practical food applications—as carbon supplements in concrete. Developed in collaboration with KIM (Kooperattiva ta’ Min Irrabbi l-Majjal) and the University of Malta, the project could divert additional material from the waste stream while supporting greater sustainability in the construction sector through the use of renewable resources for concrete production.

Importantly, the initiative is not limited to the Abattoir. Rather the Public Abattoir is seeking to apply these principles more broadly by creating the conditions in which further opportunities for ABP diversion can be explored.

This objective is being realised through the Public Abattoir’s provision of training to various personnel in the transformation and utilisation of ABPs. The Creative Thinking Course equipped farmers with the skills to develop new foodstuffs from ABPs, encouraging them to identify practical and innovative uses for materials that might otherwise be discarded.

Training has also been provided to workers in the HORECA sector through the Sheep and Goat Deboning Course, which demonstrated how cuts from sheep and goats that were often discarded could instead be utilised. In addition, the Crackling and Lard training showed participants how to produce these products themselves, further supporting the retention of suitable materials within the food chain and reducing the quantity entering the ABP waste stream.

Alongside this training the inauguration of the Experimental Kitchen has also been central to this objective. The facility provides chefs, restaurant owners, food professionals and other interested stakeholders with a dedicated environment in which potential uses for suitable materials can be explored and tested. Its purpose is therefore not simply the development of new products, but the creation of a practical mechanism through which additional materials can be investigated for diversion before they become part of the ABP waste stream.

This stakeholder participation is also fundamental to the long-term sustainability and environmental reach of the initiative. The Public Abattoir recognises that meaningful reductions in the ABP waste stream cannot depend solely on initiatives developed internally. Instead, the project seeks to encourage external stakeholders to identify opportunities for the beneficial use of these materials and provides a space where individual initiatives can be safely explored and tested.

In doing so, the Public Abattoir acts as an enabler of environmental innovation. By providing the infrastructure necessary for experimentation, it seeks to build knowledge, encourage participation and empower external stakeholders to carry the project’s momentum forward. The environmental benefits can therefore extend beyond individual initiatives developed directly by the Public Abattoir.

This creates the potential for a multiplying environmental effect. Each successful use identified for a material that would otherwise become an ABP creates another opportunity for diversion from treatment and disposal. At the same time, retaining suitable materials within the food chain supports a more efficient use of the resources already invested in animal production and contributes towards greater food security.

The Public Abattoir’s strategy therefore represents a change in how unavoidable waste is approached. The project does not claim that the generation of potential ABPs can be eliminated; instead, it challenges the assumption that all such materials must inevitably reach the waste stream.

Its environmental value lies in intervening before that point is reached: rethink the material, identify a beneficial use wherever possible, retain its value, and prevent avoidable waste. Mazzit demonstrates that the principle can deliver measurable results, while the Experimental Kitchen creates the conditions in which that environmental impact can be replicated, broadened and sustained through the participation of the wider food sector.

Throughout the waste reduction week the Public Abattoir will be conducting a public outreach campaign in order to make local shareholders in the HORECA sector aware of these available opportunities so that further ABPs can be diverted away from the waste stream and are instead retained within a strengthened zero-waste food chain.