Cuban Swill Programme
A national system of swill collection and
processing into pig feed has been
developed in Cuba as part of an overall
strategy to develop alternative feed
resources.
Kitchen waste from institutions such as
schools, hospitals and hotels is collected on
a daily basis by tankers covering set routes.
The waste is taken to specialist processing
facilities adjacent to pig farmers where it
is sorted and ground before being sterilised
in an autoclave (121ºC and 1.0 to 1.5
atmospheres for 30 minutes). The sterilised
waste is then mixed with sugar cane
molasses to produce a final product, called
‘terminal swill’, which is piped to the
adjacent feedlot.
In 1990 there were 205 collection routes,
each collecting an estimated 7.7 tonnes of
organic waste daily, equating to a total of
almost 1.
600 tonnes per day or >500,000 tonnes per
annum. Each 10,000 head feedlot required
approximately 80 tonnes of waste per day.
A related system has been developed to
process abattoir waste and dead animals
into a high protein paste for animal
feeding. Engineers have developed a
simple technology based on a horizontal
autoclave with internal mechanical
agitation which is capable of processing
even sectioned, large dead animals.
Source: Peréz (1997) and Preston (1995)
Box 4.2 (a) Matching users’ needs to different
waste management options.