Abstract

During abattoir operation numerous wastes obviously generated and pose a significant challenge to the effective environmental management practices. Rising of offensive odour and polluted water bodies and Residential areas are affected by abattoir activities where effective waste treatment and disposal systems are not practiced. This study aims to generate information on environmental implications of abattoir activities through scientific estimation of wastes generated, the corresponding slaughtered animals and waste management practices.

For this, an analytical survey approach, questionnaire, personal communication and secondary data were used and found out a total of 18,599 cattle, 301,332 sheep and 8,948,761 goats were slaughtered and from these, a total of 23,864.73ton solid waste and 76,977.65m³ liquid waste has been generated in between September 2014 -March 2018. 1 percent of the total solid waste was incinerated, 0.5% was open burned and the left over 98.5% was transported to landfill. In some cases, solid wastes are burred (put in the ground) but that was occurred on the odd occasions. Whereas, liquid waste management practices were highly improved from using primary and secondary treatment systems to reusing for greenery and cleaning purposes increased from 27% to 50%. Furthermore, waste management practices were found to be environmentally unfriend and need some improvement and so far, it seems no sufficient facilities as well legal enforcements that oblige abattoirs to treat and dispose their wastes in a way environmentally friendly. Therefore, developing strategies, monitoring and evaluation systems and providing successive environmental trainings parallel with legal enforcements are highly recommended.

Keywords: Abattoirs; Environment; Management practices; Waste generation