The National Renderers Assn., the professional organization that represents the North American rendering industry, has changed its name to the North American Renderers Assn. (NARA), unveiled a new logo and introduced a new, sustainability-focused tagline.

According to NARA, rendering is a highly sustainable method of preventing and reducing food waste that has been practiced for centuries yet is not widely understood, nor is its highly valuable contribution to global sustainability discussed or generally recognized. The sector takes leftover, undesired or uneaten livestock and poultry meat (and used cooking oil) and safely and hygienically processes it to create new products so that nothing is wasted. In short, NARA said renderers are the “original recyclers.”

“Roughly 50% of an animal is considered inedible by people,” the organization said. “Rendering reclaims this otherwise wasted food (protein, bone, fat), as well as used cooking oil from restaurants, and transforms it into ingredients for countless new goods, such as nutritious animal food (Including pet food), biofuel and household and industrial products.”

Renderers recycle this material into 19 billion lb. of fat, oil and protein products per year. As a result, huge volumes of meat leftovers and used cooking oil are kept out of landfills, resulting in a net reduction of carbon emissions. Rendering avoids at least 90% of potential greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) compared with industrial composting and sequesters five times the amount of GHGs as it emits. In fact, the rendering industry’s annual GHG reduction is equivalent to removing more than 12 million cars from the road.

“Most people don’t even understand what rendering is, let alone include it in the sustainability conversation,” said Ridley Bestwick, chairman of NARA and director of finance and chief financial officer of West Coast Reduction Ltd. “In fact, rendering is a huge player in the reduction of food waste and in environmental, social and economic sustainability.”

New name, tagline

The association was formed in 1933 and carried its original name and acronym for more than 85 years.

The change to NARA differentiates the association with a name and acronym unique to the agriculture and sustainability industries, the organization said. It also ensures more accurate results on internet search engines and also clearly includes the group's Canadian rendering members, as the word "national" connoted that members were from the U.S. only.

“This was a highly positive change for our association since a more unique name and acronym make it easier for those looking for rendering information to find it,” Bestwick explained. “Educating about rendering’s massive contribution to global sustainability is one of NARA’s most important goals. We want to educate people and get rendering into the sustainability conversation so both current and incoming generations understand its importance. We believe this name change will help us to do that.”

The association’s new tagline -- “Reclaiming Resources, Sustainably” -- was chosen to focus on the rendering industry’s important and fundamental contributions to sustainability, its prevention and reduction of food waste and that, in rendering, nothing is wasted.