– Upcycling fish sludge to sustainable feed material: From environmental waste problems to sustainable feed solutions
The Up-Sludged project aims at transforming fish sludge from Norway’s land-based and fresh-water aquaculture industry into sustainable feed materials. Currently, 30 to 50 % of the deployed fish feed is lost as waste and generates, together with the fish faeces, 275,000 tonnes fish sludge annually from land-based facilities (hatcheries and smolt) in Norway, alone. This nutrient-rich by-product is currently underutilised and mainly used in biogas production or incineration. To mitigate this loss of valuable resources, Up-Sludged seeks to increase knowledge on the safety and sustainability of applying locally-sourced fish sludge as feed for black soldier fly larvae, marine polychaetes and microalgae, while addressing legislative barriers that currently restrict the use of fish sludge into the feed-food chain. Changes in the regulation would require substantial scientific documentation about the chemical composition of fish sludge, risks related to the presence of both chemical and biological hazards in the raw material, and their fate during the production process as feed ingredients for low-trophic organisms. The new knowledge obtained in the project will support regulatory bodies in developing new guidelines for using fish sludge as feed. Furthermore, confirming the safety and sustainability of sludge-derived feed has to be ensured for making the products acceptable for industry stakeholders, governmental agencies and the general public. Thus, the project will engage in discussions regarding ethical aspects related to circular food system. Up-Slugded, a continuation of the project SecureFeed, has the ambition to contribute to reducing the dependency on imported feed ingredients, enhance food system resilience, and contribute to Norway’s sustainability goals.
The project is a cooperation between Institute of Marine Research, Sintef Ocean AS, University of Bergen, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy, Norwegian Veterinary Institute, Wageningen University and Research
Project period: 2026–2029