Meat processing generates large quantities of waste, which consist primarily of:

• organic by-products, including offal;
• processing streams (e.g. wastewater), and;
• packaging material, among others.

While for some by-products of meat specific management strategies can be applied - minimisation, reuse or recycling - other by-products are for technical or regulatory reasons inevitable . They must therefore be disposed of.[1]

Unlike meat, soy production (soy bean meal and soy oil) generates a limited amount of residues, which can be used as animal feed, incinerated or applied back into the soil.[2]

Compared to conventional animal production, waste is not widely assessed for alternative proteins. Where the issue is discussed, the available evidence suggests that the alternatives generate less waste compared to conventional equivalents, and that this waste is easily recycled. 

In some cases, alternative protein production processes could even use waste from other processes, improving their overall waste footprint.