Egg-laying chickens can also live in luxury coops. Unlike traditional chicken egg farms where odors and disease transmission are prevalent, modern chicken farms adopt spacious environments, comfortable surroundings, and advanced monitoring equipment. They also install eco-friendly equipment for air, waste, and wastewater treatment, ensuring both environmental protection and animal welfare and providing sustainable conditions for livestock and poultry. From pollution reduction at source to embracing circular economy practices, these farms strive to work with others to achieve the goal of net-zero green living.

Traditional chicken egg farms are characterized by open spaces where chicken manure is difficult to collect and process, leading to the generation of unpleasant odors. These farms face challenges such as outbreaks of diseases like avian influenza, unstable egg production rates, and are often considered as facilities to be avoided by neighboring communities. As a result, environmental authorities frequently receive complaints about the foul odors associated with these farms.

Most modern chicken farms adopt controlled environments, effectively preventing the spread of diseases. Indoor temperature control helps avoid excessive water intake by chickens, reducing the water content and weight of chicken manure, which, in turn, reduces the generation of odors and indirectly decreases fuel consumption and carbon emissions during waste transportation. Additionally, the use of nesting boxes ensures that eggs remain uncontaminated by feces, facilitating a reduction in water usage during the cleaning and sorting stages. Chicken manure can be recycled as organic fertilizer, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers and promoting sustainable agricultural practices. Moreover, wastewater from egg washing is treated and either recycled or used for irrigation, promoting water conservation and resource circulation. Through environmental protection measures concerning waste, air, and wastewater, the unpleasant odors around the chicken coops are eliminated, and the overall environment becomes clean and comparable to that of modern technology industries, showcasing the effectiveness of environmental management.

The EPA calls on livestock and poultry farmers to embrace the concept of circular economy, minimizing resource wastage and maximizing resource reuse. They are encouraged to enhance the living conditions for the livestock, improve animal welfare, and actively contribute to environmental protection efforts to achieve sustainable development goals.

Excerpt from Major Environmental Policies, June 2023