Methods for recovering tallow from wastewater

A method for recovering tallow from meat processing wastewater comprising adding a treatment comprising a coagulant composition and a flocculant to the wastewater to agglomerate suspended fats, oil and grease particles in the wastewater, separating solid waste materials from the wastewater and isolating tallow from the solid waste materials, wherein said coagulant composition comprises tannin, and wherein said flocculant is a copolymer containing dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate, acrylamidopropyltrimethyl ammonium chloride, methacrylamidopropyltrimethyl ammonium chloride, acrylamidopropyl sulfonate, acrylamide, acrylic acid or mixtures thereof, said tannin comprising a tannin/N,N-(dimethylaminoethyl) methacrylate polymer, wherein the mole ratio of tannin to N,N-(dimethylaminoethyl) methacrylate is from about 1:0.5 to about 1:5.0.