Suitability of side flows as ingredients for poultry feed : Wildcard connected circularity – agrologistics of side flows: the missing link for circularity by design

Summary

The wildcard project “Agrologistics of side flows: missing link for circularity by design”, within the WUR Investment Theme Connected Circularity aimed to create building blocks for method development to evaluate the suitability of side flows for animal feed from a circular agrologistics perspective, focussing on Dutch poultry feed. As the current lack of data on volumes and composition of side flows heavily limits the options to create quantitative agrologistics modelling techniques, the researchers performed a literature review to analyse available side flows, poultry production systems, and agrologistics opportunities. To put the literature findings into perspective, a workshop with additional WUR experts was organised using the Circular Agriculture Test (Kringlooptoets) approach. Acknowledging the complex nature of designing circular agri-food systems, while at the same time limiting the scope to poultry feed, design principles and options could be structured into a 7-step method. The qualitative description of these building blocks can guide farmers and animal feed manufacturers to evaluate suitable matches for poultry feed and the necessary agrologistics. Step 1: Availability of side flows as feed Step 2: Direct or indirect routes for the use of side flows Step 3: Suitability of side flows Step 4: Legal requirements Step 5: Positive business case Step 6: Environmental impact: comparative analysis and trade-offs with other feed sources and uses of side flows Step 7: Social acceptance by consumers and other food system stakeholders Applying the method creates unique circularity by design options for unique poultry farms (specified for various types of chicken) utilizing unique side flows, taking into account context-related opportunities and requirements. Although the description is focused on poultry feed, it provides the building blocks to evaluate any side flows for any animal production system and on any farm.