Most people are inclined to shoo flies away from food, and the thought of maggots in your bins is enough to make anyone’s stomach turn.
However, a handful of city councils have embraced maggots—more formally known as fly larvae—and their appetite for rotting food.
In Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, fly larvae have officially been tasked with processing the 2,700 tonnes of food waste generated annually by the city’s 607,000 residents, in addition to that of six neighboring councils.
Energesman, the waste management company that began relieving Vilnius of its food waste earlier this year, does not actually charge the city for this service.
According to the company’s chief executive, Algirda Blazgys, this arrangement is saving the city up to €2m (£1.7m; $2.3m) per year, based on a target of processing 12,000 tonnes in 2026.
Energesman has introduced new orange food waste bags to residents, alongside an influencer marketing campaign to encourage more Vilniečiai to separate their food waste, as the 2,700 tonnes collected represents only a fraction of the 40,000 tonnes of household waste the city is estimated to generate.
Last year, it became mandatory for councils to collect food waste, so the city needs to find effective ways to manage it.
Energesman, meanwhile, has plans to transform the fattened fly larvae into a new income stream.
The company houses approximately six million flies in a dedicated zone within its Vilnius plant, where they mate around every six hours, according to CEO Algirdas Blazgys.
A female fly can lay around 500 eggs during her average 21-day lifespan, meaning Mr. Blazgys and his team manage more than three million larvae a month, which can consume over 11 tonnes of food waste in the first, hungriest days of their lives.
The voracious appetites of these tiny creatures make them ideal candidates for food waste processing. This study demonstrates a swarm of them devouring a 16-inch pizza in just two hours.
The key is to harvest them before they mature into flies. The protein-rich fly larvae can then be converted into protein products for use in animal feed or for industrial applications, such as an ingredient in paint, glue, lampshades, and furniture covers.
Additionally, their manure, known as frass, can be used as fertilizer.
Energesman has already established supply trials with partners in the paint, glue, and furniture industries, but Mr. Blazgys acknowledges that it is proving more complicated than anticipated.
The sample paint produced using Energesman-reared fly larvae did not quite achieve the desired color, but the lampshades created show promise.
He also has university partnerships in place to supply fly larvae for research purposes and for feeding bacteria. And, of course, the larvae are in demand from the local fishing industry for use as bait.
However, EU health and safety regulations stipulate that fly larvae fed with kitchen waste cannot be used in edible insect products for human consumption, due to the potential for cross-contamination from meat and fish scraps.
“We came up with some crazy ideas, then we started looking for other people that could also come with some crazy ideas about what we could do,” says Mr. Blazgys.
“As it’s still very new, some people are still looking to see if we’re going to fail, so they don’t want to brag about it yet. But I think we’re going to come up with something good.”
While there are numerous instances worldwide of fly larvae being used in food waste management and harvested as a protein ingredient, it is largely on a commercial basis, such as a private contract between a hotel or apartment building owner and a fly larvae rearer.
In Kenya, Project Mila is a social enterprise using fly larvae to address Mombasa’s growing food waste problem, while also providing frass as fertilizer to local farmers.
Yet, only a handful of city councils have adopted this method of processing food waste.
Goterra in Australia has employed fly larvae to help Sydney manage its food waste, as part of a limited trial that began this year.
For the past three years, Goterra has also been collaborating with three townships within the neighboring Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council, recycling approximately 10 tonnes of food waste.
Whether we will see UK councils begin importing millions of flies, so their larvae can consume the 6.4 million tonnes of household food waste produced annually in the country, remains to be seen.
That is the optimistic view of Larry Kotch, CEO and co-founder of insect waste management company Flybox, which he says operates more insect waste processing sites than any other company in the UK, working primarily with private food manufacturers and supermarkets.
Flybox is also a founding member of the Insect Bioconversion Association, an industry body representing companies in the sector.
Mr. Kotch believes that UK councils are interested, especially since weekly household food waste collections will become mandatory in England from March 2026.
According to the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee, approximately 148 of England’s 317 local authorities still do not offer this service.
However, regulations set by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) currently prohibit councils from using fly larvae to process food waste.
If regulation could align with scientific advancements, Mr. Kotch argues that “the UK could see its first council-contracted insect plant within two years.”
“Unfortunately, with government, it’s always safer to say no… Everyone we’ve spoken to in UK councils are very excited about insect protein and would much rather work with insect farms than alternative technologies.”
DEFRA confirmed to the BBC that the Animal By-Product Regulations restrict the use of insects for processing organic waste streams.
It stated that there are currently no plans to review these regulations. “Our waste management regulations play a crucial role in protecting UK biosecurity and reducing the risk of disease,” the spokesperson said.
The current alternative to sending food waste to landfill is anaerobic digestion (AD), a breakdown process that generates biogas.
However, Mr. Kotch asserts that current AD plants are insufficient to handle the anticipated influx of household food waste.
“Globally, over 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted every year. We believe up to 40% of that could be upcycled using insect waste management. And not only does it avoid disposal costs and methane emissions, but it also produces valuable protein and organic fertiliser,” says Mr. Kotch.
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