On reconciling sustainable plants and networks design for by-products management in the meat industry

Abstract

Population growth and rising per capita consumption of meat is growing and is expected to further accelerate in future. The production of beef is undoubtedly an high environmental stressor due to land-use change, water and energy consumption and by-products production. This paper focuses on the distribution and transportation processes of the beef slaughtering’s by-products throughout their proper valorization chains. A methodology, inspired to the LCA, and encompassing data collection, simulation, and multi-scenario analysis is proposed and illustrated. This is applied to a real-world case study from the meat industry to showcase the importance of reconciling plant and network design to address both economic and environmental sustainability.