There have been many case studies carried out for the Seafood Industry in the past but many of these have been by the very nature of their remit, nationally focussed. Discussions highlighted that more studies are in existence and RAY concluded that there was value in reviewing these and summarising them in one document.

The Environmental Technologies Centre of Industrial Collaboration (ETCIC) based at the University of Hull was commissioned to undertake this work. The remit also included identification of any possible cluster of Seafood Processors in the Yorkshire and Humber Region, in particular along the East Coast in the Scarborough and Whitby areas.

The existing reports on the waste issues facing the seafood industry were reviewed and their contents summarised to provide one overall report on the topic. The conclusions drawn by the reports are that there are alternative technologies available on the market capable of processing / treating the industry’s waste but the cost of implementing them outweigh the costs that they are currently facing. The barriers that prevent the industry from going down these technological routes are cost, the volumes of waste required to make them economically viable, and the requirement to co-operate with other seafood processors.

The Seafish Industry in the Yorkshire and Humber region was believed to have rising waste costs similar to many other industries. However this study has found this not to be the case, as their waste is a resource to other companies in the fishmeal market. The main cluster of the industry is to be found in the Hull and Grimsby areas. The majority of the waste, almost 100% from these processors is being sold into the fishmeal production market and as such is generating an income for the companies.

There is however, no such cluster of seafood processors in the Scarborough and Whitby area. The main processor in the area is producing a different waste stream to the other smaller processors in the locality and therefore combining the wastes is not an option. The disposal costs incurred by the processors are not currently prohibitive to their business at approximately 0.2% of their annual turnover, much lower than was thought to be the case.

There are a number of other waste issues facing the Seafood Industry such as cardboard, plastic and general waste disposal, and energy and water usage. These waste streams are issues that are faced by business as a whole and there are therefore a number of initiatives already in place that can be tapped into such as Envirowise Fast Track visits, NISP, Resource Efficiency Clubs and WhyWaste. There is no need for these issues to be dealt with by a specific project in the Seafood sector.