China's love of pork presents a mountain of a problem for the environment – literally – as the country's pig population produces 1.5 million tons of poo a year. But now, an Australian company says it can turn the sticky problem into much-needed biofuel. According to Australian media, CRC Care (CRC for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment) has developed a new device that can turn pig poo into pig power. The "PooCareTM" bioreactor converts pig manure into biofuel, which can be used for cooking and heating. The residual dung goes to farmers as nutrient-rich fertilizers. "The benefits are energy and fuel for farmers as well as preventing further contamination of the environment," CRC Care chief scientist Ravi Naidu, said. "So it's really a green technology from that perspective." The device essentially converts solid waste into a biogas that is then pumped through gas tanks that can be delivered to the local community. The entire process takes about a month. China has an estimated 700 million pigs, producing some two-thirds of the meat consumed there annually, so the scale of the problem can't be underestimated. But only one tenth of pig waste is used now as manure and the potential health hazards are vast. "Pig waste contains a high level of nitrate, which in liquid form can contaminate ground water and in flake form can contaminate lakes, posing human health risks," Naidu said. Chinese scientists and Hong Kong-based technology firm HLM Asia Ltd also took part in developing the technology, which costs roughly $36,400 for one bioreactor. Mass production would bring costs down, Naidu said. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter