Vancouver based ATD Waste Systems has developed a solid-liquid manure separation system that breaks swine manure into a solid stream which is used to produce a pelleted dry fertilizer and a liquid stream which can be recycled back to the animals as drinking water.

ATD president Victor Van Slyke says the technology is attracting interest in China.

Victor Van Slyke-ATD Waste Systems

I think the big thing is that it allows for larger and larger herds to be located where food and water and labor are available because the odors have been reduced significantly, greenhouse gases have been almost eliminated, we're very sparing on the water that we consume.

Since we're recycling most of it we expect something between 50 and 70 percent of the existing water consumption to be cut.

What we've done is we've separated the need for slurry disposable acreage adjacent to the farm.

Now we can literally put tens of thousands of pigs together on unproductive land and recycle the water as I've said and have a salable fertilizer product that could be shipped at relatively low cost in a nutrient concentrated form so we've opened the door to larger and larger farms that will be neighborhood friendly.

Mr Van Slyke notes China produces about 50 percent of the world's pork and has a need for more pork production.

He says more environmentally friendly production techniques will allow expanded production while decreasing the impact on the environment.