Disposal without control?: Slaughterhouse waste on Bavarian fields

In Bavaria, around 13,000 tons of slaughterhouse waste are said to have been illegally disposed of in a biogas plant – the fermentation residues ended up on fields as fertilizer. The control authorities did not notice this for a long time because there is no data for effective control

It’s about blood, gastrointestinal contents and other slaughterhouse waste. From 2017 to 2020 they are said to have been processed in a biogas plant in Paulushofen, although the plant did not have a permit for this. A large part of the slaughterhouse waste came from a slaughterhouse in Weißenfels in Saxony-Anhalt, which belongs to the Tönnies meat group. There are said to have been more than 450 journeys from there to Paulushofen. This is evident from internal documents.

pathogens and resistant bacteria

According to the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, so-called animal by-products from slaughterhouses can contain pathogens and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These may be transferred to plants and food when digestate from slaughterhouse waste is applied as fertilizer. Experts assume that this can potentially also be dangerous for humans.

After animal diseases such as BSE, an EU regulation regulates the correct recycling and disposal of animal by-products. Accordingly, biogas plants can accept certain slaughterhouse waste in order to produce gas through fermentation. Much of this waste has to be sanitized, i.e. heated, so that the fermentation residues from the biogas plant are as safe as possible.

Applied to over 300 hectares of arable land

The biogas plant in Paulushofen, Bavaria, was allowed to feed leftovers, for example from the catering trade, and liquid manure from the company’s own farm into the plant. There was no approval for gastro-intestinal contents or so-called flotates, which are produced during waste water treatment and were supplied by Tönnies, among others. This is confirmed by the responsible control authority, the Eichstätt district office.

The waste was therefore processed illegally. Within a year alone, the fermentation residues were spread over an area of ​​over 300 hectares as fertilizer. The former operator of the facility in Paulushofen accepts inquiries from the BR unanswered. The plant has now been shut down.

Tönnies: “We were deceived”

Material coming from slaughterhouses must be traceable using delivery notes and disposed of correctly. In the case of the Paulushofen biogas plant, the majority of deliveries came from Tönnies. There one admits that slaughterhouse waste was delivered to Paulushofen. Tönnies didn’t know for a long time that the plant didn’t have permission for it. It was only in January 2020 – after more than two years of trips to Paulushofen – that it was found that the papers presented were forged.

That was not recognizable, explains Martin Bocklage, legal advisor at Tönnies BR-Interview: “At this point it is important for me to emphasize that we have become the victims of a criminal act, fraud, forgery of documents or cumulatively several crimes. And we are not perpetrators.” You have relied on an external consultant. By that Tönnies means showing it BR-Research, a consulting firm for biogas plants from the Upper Palatinate. The managing director also looks after and operates biogas plants himself.

Responsibility is shifted back and forth

The consultant’s lawyer contradicts Tönnies’ account: his client was not involved in the events in Paulushofen. Although he mediated contact between Tönnies and various companies, at the same time he advised Tönnies to clarify with the companies themselves what and in what quantities can actually be accepted. The address of his company was on forged delivery notes – that’s why he filed a criminal complaint against unknown persons for forging documents.

failure of the control authorities

The district veterinary offices are responsible for controlling the disposal of animal by-products – where the slaughterhouse is located and where the slaughterhouse waste is delivered. In the present case, these are the district offices in the Burgenland district in Saxony-Anhalt and in the Eichstätt district in Bavaria.

When asked at both district offices, it turns out that the control system has gaps. The slaughterhouse must report all disposal companies to the local veterinary office. Apparently nobody in the Burgenland district noticed that the biogas plant in Paulushofen did not have the appropriate approval. In the district of Eichstätt, where the biogas plant is located, no one was aware that slaughterhouse waste was being recycled. Apparently there was no communication between the authorities.

“The system doesn’t work”

The chairwoman of the environmental committee in the Bavarian state parliament, Rosi Steinberger from the Greens, has been dealing with the topic for a long time: “The system for tracking slaughterhouse waste obviously doesn’t work for us.” Irregularities are often reported by citizens and not discovered by control authorities: “My guess is that the slaughterhouse waste was completely under the radar and they were not on the radar at all.”

Survey: Federal states do not collect numbers

Monitoring is also difficult due to the lack of data. A survey by the BR at the relevant ministries. Eight of the 16 federal states answered in the same word: “There are no official surveys on the quantities of ‘slaughterhouse waste’ that arise during slaughter.”

Raid on the district office

In Paulushofen, a report to the police in January 2020 got things moving: Since then, the public prosecutor’s office in Ingolstadt has been investigating several suspects, including the former operator of the plant. It is also about the suspicion of soil contamination in particularly serious cases and the unauthorized operation of a plant.

The Ingolstadt criminal police had set up a “biogas” investigative team at times. There were a dozen house searches – also in the Eichstätt district office. According to his lawyer, the biogas plant consultant is no longer listed as a suspect, and Tönnies employees were questioned as witnesses. Whether or not there will be any charges will be decided in the next few weeks.