Poultry farming in India is one of the largest in the world. In fact, India is the third-largest egg producer in the world after China and the USA and the fourth-largest chicken producer in the world after China, Brazil and the USA.  State Governments in the country have introduced, for some time now, the mid-day meal scheme for school going children. An egg per day per child is a must in this meal because of the high protein content which is essential for the growth of the child. The per capita consumption of eggs has in recent times doubled to 68 eggs and the consumption of chicken 6 times to 2.5 kg per annum in the last 5 years.

This has given a big fillip to the poultry industry and it has mushroomed in the past decade or so, with all kinds of players including big and small entering the fray.

While this has helped the poultry business produce large quantities of layers and broilers, it has also been given the task of keeping the birds healthy and to manage waste products generated in these farms.

Poultry wastes can be broadly classified into:

1. Poultry droppings 

2. Litter/bedding material 

3. Dead birds 

4. Waste feed 

5. Abattoir waste 

6. Damaged/rotten eggs 

7. Damaged crates 

9. Feed bags/health care products 

10. Waste water for slaughtering house

11. Waste water from poultry house disinfection 

12. R & D lab wastes including PPEs and petri dishes

The common methods used by many countries for disposal of these wastes can be summarized as follows:

 1. Poultry wastes are dumped around the farm 

 2. Poultry wastes are used as farm yard manure 

 3. Poultry wastes are dumped in a nearby bush 

 4. Poultry wastes are dumped in a far off bush or open waste land 

 5. Poultry wastes are sold to the public to be used for farming 

 6. Poultry wastes are given free to the public to be used for farming 

 7. Dead birds are buried in a pit near the farm 

 8. Dead birds are thrown into a nearby bush 

 9. Dead birds are burnt inside a pit or in a heap near the farm 

 10. Dead birds are burnt inside an incinerator on the farm

 11. Dead birds are given to animals such as dogs, etc. to eat

 12. Dead birds are sold or given freely to interested members of the public 

 13. Dead birds are given freely to interested farm workers 

 14. Poultry wastes are sun-dried and burnt 

 15. Poultry wastes are sun-dried and sold to be used for farming 

 16. Poultry wastes are channelled into nearby streams or river through open canals

 17. Slurry wastes are

 18. Poultry wastes are flushed into a soak pit beside the farm 

 19. Poultry wastes are channelled to farmer’s fish farm to be used as feed 

 20. Poultry wastes are sold to fish pond owners to be used as fish feed ingredient 

 21. Poultry wastes are dried and used as part of poultry feed ingredient 

It can be concluded that poultry waste management practices as above are always confronted by a high level of constraints. Major constraints are lack of awareness on how to use poultry wastes productively or dispose it off safely. Non availability of  agricultural land nearby where the wastes can be used, excessive odour from waste, high cost of chemical treatment, high transportation cost and high cost of private waste management agencies, etc.  Lack of awareness on how to use the wastes productively or dispose of safely is the leading constraint. Hence there should be members who are trained on poultry waste management practices that will not have negative effect on the birds and the environment. It is suggested that waste management practices such as dumping of poultry wastes around the farm and to animals such as dogs should be discouraged, as those practices were found to pose further challenges in poultry waste management.

In the experience of many leading poultry farmers, the safest practice has been found to be incineration using the right type of Poultry Incinerator system to burn the waste without causing any environmental damage.

Haat manufactures PWR range of Poultry Waste Incinerators which can be used for a majority of these wastes. These incinerators are skid-mounted, meaning fully assembled with all the components and controls and ready to use. These are factory tested and are portable. These are designed to accept full capacity load in one go and are available in a very wide range – from 5 to 1000 kg/hour. They have excellent combustion efficiency and are designed for low ash generation. Their design is also such as to avoid wear and tear in the combustion chamber with monolithic lining, which means practically no maintenance for the system and long equipment life.

The main advantages of using PWR range poultry waste incinerators made by Haat are

• Ensuring farm environment hygiene

• Guaranteed sterilization of infected birds compared to conventional burial or chemical methods.

• The system is virtually smoke and odour free

• Can handle high moisture containing materials such as eggs

• It complies with environmental regulations

• No skilled manpower is needed

• Flue gas filtration systems can be added for improved emissions

• Service facility available throughout the year from Haat`s service team.