An animal rendering plant that the Crown alleges was used by Robert William Pickton to dump human remains could be used with little or no supervision prior to 2002, court heard Tuesday.

Merle Morris, the superintendent of West Coast Reduction limited, the only rendering plant in the Vancouver area,  told the court security measures at the plant were greatly increased in 2002 after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The plant now only takes the remains of pigs, chicken and fish. But prior to 2002, small operators could come and dump animal remains with little or no supervision and no paperwork. 

"Prior to those changes in 2002, would it have been possible for a small customer to dump unauthorized material to a pit unsupervised?" Crown lawyer Geoff Baragar asked.

Morris responded simply, "Yes." 

Pickton was arrested in February 2002.

The trial, in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, began in late January. Pickton has been charged in the deaths of Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Wolfe, Marnie Frey and Georgina Papin, all women who went missing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

In all, Pickton is accused in the deaths of 26 women. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Another trial on 20 other counts will be held later.

At the opening of the trial, the Crown told jurors Pickton regularly used the rendering plant in Vancouver to dispose of pig remains.

In a videotape of his conversation with an undercover officer, the officer suggests the best way to get rid of a body is to take it to the ocean.

Pickton replies he "did one better — a rendering plant."

A rendering plant, Morris explained, takes entrails from many different animals, including pigs, cows and sheep, and converts them to meal or tallow for soap and cosmetics after a grinding and cooking process.

The material comes to the plant from large operators who gather it at abattoirs, stores and butcher shops. But small operators also use the plant.

James Cress, another plant employee, told jurors about picking up two to five, 45-gallon barrels from the Pickton farm once a week. Cress said he knew Robert Pickton as "Bob" and that Pickton would often help him with the barrels. 

Cress said he had looked in the barrels.

"There were chunks of pork, they were burnt black. Big chunks sometimes,” he said.  

When asked by the Crown if it were unusual to see big chunks, he said, "They usually like to use every little piece of the meat that is on … from the animal because, you know it is money."