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Waste Treatment in the Danish Dairy Industry

The Danish Government Research Institute for Dairy Industry, Hillerod, Denmark

ABSTRACT

The Danish Government Research Institute began research in dairy waste treatment about 40 yr ago. The purpose was to serve the dairy industry continuously with information about progress in methods of waste treatment, and through specialized advisory service to support individual dairy plants in their efforts to keep step with progressive public demands for a better environment. A brief outline of environmental legislation, emphasizing the official guidelines for discharge of waste, will be given together with a brief survey of the load of pollution in Danish dairy effluents. Technical possibilities for restricting unavoidable pollution to a minimum will be mentioned. Recent results from experiments at the research institute with different waste treatment systems will be summarized and their adaptability to dairy waste under prevailing conditions evaluated.

In a Danish dairy journal from 1935 the following simple and serious question was raised by a dairy manager. "What is the price for an effluent treatment plant for our dairy, and is it reliable and efficient?" He did not receive an answer.

This characterizes the situation in Denmark about 40 yr ago. Knowledge and experience in treatment and neutralizing of dairy effluent was limited because the subject had not been investigated systematically, technologically, and scientifically. However, several waste water treatment plants, set up according to different principles, already had been running for some years. A dairy effluent irrigation plant was built as early as 1883, and a number of septic tank plants were built in the years around 1910. The reason no answer was given to the simple question above was most likely that the practical experience from these plants were widely different, often characterized by fortuitousness and mystery. This was primarily due to inexperience in the function of the plant, lack of measuring methods, and lack of a real basis for evaluating the effect of the plant.

Only 3 yr later in 1938, a research program on treatment of dairy effluent was initiated at the Danish Government Research Institute for Dairy Industry. Activities in that field have been part of our research program since. Over the years there has been considerable research activity caused by changes in the structure of the dairy industry and the community as a whole. The actual situation is dominated by the following three aspects: (a) Increased risk of heavier detrimental pollution; (b) Increased sensitivity to the ecological balance, and (c) Increased concern for the environment. Today we have a comprehensive knowledge about the problems of waste water treatment, and I am quite sure that if a question like the one in 1935 by the dairy manager were published in our dairy journal today, the person in question would be overwhelmed with offers and guarantees.