Should we be letting flies eat our food waste?

Should we allow flies to help us deal with our food waste? In Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, city officials have started using fly larvae to process the food waste produced by its residents. Instead of simply throwing away leftover food, the city collects it and gives it to a company called Energesman. This company uses fly larvae, which are the young form of flies, to eat and break down the food waste. This process is not only efficient but also saves the city a significant amount of money—up to two million euros each year. To make it easier for people to separate their food waste, Energesman has given out special orange bags and started a campaign to encourage everyone to participate.

Inside the Energesman facility, there are about six million flies living in a special area. These flies lay millions of eggs, and the larvae that hatch are extremely hungry. In just the first few days of their lives, these larvae can eat more than eleven tonnes of food waste. Their appetite is so impressive that a swarm of them can finish a large pizza in only two hours. The company collects the larvae before they turn into adult flies. These larvae are rich in protein and can be used to make animal feed or even industrial products like paint, glue, and furniture covers. Their waste, called frass, is also valuable as a fertilizer for plants. Energesman is working with other companies to test these new products, although there are still some challenges, like getting the right color for paint made from larvae.

This idea is not unique to Lithuania. In Kenya, a project called Project Mila uses fly larvae to help manage food waste and provide fertilizer to local farmers. In Australia, the company Goterra has been using fly larvae to help cities like Sydney deal with their food waste. In the UK, some companies are interested in using fly larvae, but current government rules make it difficult for city councils to adopt this method. Experts believe that if these rules change, more cities could benefit from using fly larvae to process food waste. This would help reduce the amount of food that ends up in landfills and create useful products at the same time. With over 1. 3 billion tonnes of food wasted globally each year, using fly larvae could be an important step toward a more sustainable future.