ALEXANDRIA, VA, – The North American Renderers Association (NARA) is proud to announce that the second annual National Rendering Day will be observed on April 21, 2024. Last year at the inaugural National Rendering Day, NARA and National Day Calendar issued a proclamation recognizing rendering with this important national day.

The date of April 21st was specifically chosen to fall on the day before Earth Day (April 22) in order to represent the sustainable nature of the rendering industry and its contributions to food waste and loss prevention, and environmental protection and sustainability.

“We are honored to celebrate the second Annual National Rendering Day by recognizing all those in the rendering industry and the important work they do for environmental sustainability and food waste and loss prevention,” NARA President and CEO, Kent Swisher said. “Rendering upcycles material that would otherwise be wasted and is the purest example of the circular economy. The observance of National Rendering Day this Sunday and every April 21st is a great way to educate the public on the positive environmental impacts of rendering and why rendering is such a critical part of food waste and loss prevention.”

About Rendering

North Americans consume roughly 50% of an animal due to cultural preferences. This leaves a lot of unused material.   Rendering reclaims this otherwise wasted material, such as protein, bone, and fat, and even includes used cooking oil (UCO) from restaurants. The rendering process safely, hygienically, and sustainably processes that unused material (the meat we don’t eat) into new products and goods so nothing is wasted.

When we render, we convert what would have been food waste into material for use in a multitude of new products such as nutritious pet food and animal feed, industrial goods, and biomass-based diesel. In short, rendering is recycling.

Rendering also demonstrates respect and resourcefulness for the livestock that were raised with care by farmers. In fact, rendering shows respect for the animal itself by using every part of the animal so nothing goes to waste. Additionally, by offsetting the environmental impacts of animal agriculture through rendering, we shrink our food production footprint.

#NationalRenderingDay

By celebrating National Rendering Day on April 21st, we bring awareness to the act of reducing and eliminating food waste through rendering. On National Rendering Day we urge the larger community to learn more about what rendering means, how the rendering process works, and why using rendered products is the sustainable choice for consumers.

National Rendering Day is also a great way to show appreciation for those in the rendering industry and to recognize and celebrate rendering’s many environmental benefits, and its important role in reducing food waste and overall sustainability.

Learn more about rendering at www.NARA.org and join NARA in spreading the word about this important day by sharing National Rendering Day with your social network using the hashtag #NationalRenderingDay. Click here to download NARA’s National Rendering Day social media toolkit.