In Iceland, chicken feathers have so far been landfilled, but it is necessary to establish the utilization of this raw material, as the national plan for waste treatment assumes that landfilling of organic waste will be reduced to 35% of the total volume on 1 July 2020.
It is known abroad to recycle chicken feathers into protein flour by various methods, but the knowledge has not been transferred to domestic production, so now the intention is to process protein-rich flour that is suitable for making feed from Icelandic chicken feathers. Experiments will be made on the processing of chicken feathers, in collaboration with Reykjagarður, where the protein will be broken down into smaller units. Feather meal can be used in feed for pigs, fur animals, pets and fish.
The aim of the project is to turn an underutilized product (raw material that costs money into landfilling) into valuable, protein-rich flour that is used in feed production, to reduce the environmental impact of Icelandic industry and increase utilization in chicken production. The project is also an effort to meet the goals of the national plan, which aims to significantly reduce the landfill of organic waste by 2020. It can be estimated that around and over 2000 tonnes of chicken feathers are landfilled annually in Iceland. No efficient processing channels for feathers have been developed so far, but the project will lay the foundation for the efficient utilization of local raw materials in Iceland to reduce the environmental impact of Icelandic food production.
Agricultural Productivity Fund and AVS Fisheries Research Fund strengthen the project.