Life Cycle Assessment as a Methodological Framework for the Evaluation of the Environmental Sustainability of Pig and Pork Production in Ecuador

Abstract

Pork is one of the proteins of greatest demand worldwide. This study has evaluated the environmental sustainability of pig production by applying the life cycle assessment methodological framework. The system boundaries include feed production, pig production, slaughtering, and slaughterhouse by-product management. Within this context, three scenarios have been proposed: the first related to the management of slaughter by-products in an open dump, the second contemplates a model for using these by-products in a rendering plant, and a third where the environmental burden of slaughterhouse co-products is portioned according to economic allocation. The primary data collected correspond to the period of 2019 for the facilities of a producer in a coastal province of Ecuador. Three functional units were used—“1 kg of pig carcass at the slaughterhouse gate”, “1 kg pig live weigh at the farm gate”, and “1 kg of feed at the plant gate”. The impact categories included were global warming, fossil depletion, marine eutrophication, ozone layer depletion, particulate matter formation, photochemical oxidation formation, and terrestrial acidification. The results revealed that the production of ingredients for feed is the largest contributor to the environmental burden of pig and pork. The rendering of slaughter by-products that avoid the production of other fats and proteins results in a lower environmental impact than the other scenarios in almost all categories.