After rendering, the materials are much more resistant to spoiling. The fat can be used in animal feed, in soap-making, in candles, as a raw material for biodiesel production, and as a feed-stock for the chemical industry. The bone and protein becomes dry particles known as meat and bone meal. For many years meat and bone meal were fed to cattle. This practice is now prohibited in developed countries because it is believed to be the main route for the spread of BSE (mad-cow disease). Meat and bone meal is still fed to non-ruminant animals in the United States.

Tallow, derived from beef waste, is an important raw material in the steel rolling industry providing the required lubrication as the sheet steel is compressed through the rollers

In the absence of the rendering industry, the cost of waste disposal of waste animal material would be very high and would place a significant economic and environmental burden on areas involved in industrial scale slaughtering.