Reducing Food Waste With Black Soldier Flies
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In the United States, approximately 40% of the food produced for human consumption never gets eaten; it ends up as waste (1). This occurs at every stage of the food production chain, but homes are the biggest waste contributors, accounting for 40 – 50% of all food waste generated (1). Annually, the food waste produced in US households amounts to 27 million tons of food. For reference, the average annual food consumption of the Country of Mexico is approximately 21 million tons (2). The US wastes enough food every year to feed Mexico, and then some. Additionally, over 70% of the food thrown away is edible at the time of disposal (3). Meanwhile, 1 in 7 Americans are food insecure, lacking reliable access to sufficient, affordable, nutritious food (4).
The financial and environmental costs associated with food waste are significant. The financial cost is especially high for US consumers since they pay retail prices for food, resulting in $144 billion spent on wasted food annually. An average family of four can expect to spend around $1,500 each year on food that becomes waste (1,5). Environmentally, food waste accounts for the greatest percentage of landfill methane emissions, a more potent global warming gas than carbon dioxide (6).
The EPA developed the Wasted Food Scale in 2023 to prioritize processes that prevent or divert household food waste from entering landfills (7). The scale includes composting and feeding animals as two actions that can be taken to reduce food waste and the Black Soldier Fly (BSF; Hermetia illucens) is gaining attention for its ability to positively impact both actions. BSF is a common Dipteran fly present in temperate and tropical regions worldwide. It is a non-pest insect with adults that do not sting or bite, and voracious larvae that consume a wide range of organic materials. BSF accelerate the decomposition of consumer and restaurant food waste, spent brewing grains, manure, and much more. The organic byproduct of this decomposition (frass) can serve as a soil amendment and biofertilizer, and the larvae themselves can be harvested and used as feed for poultry and fish.
The Innovation Barn (8) in Charlotte, NC houses a demonstration BSF Composting Facility to help manage food waste at the site. The facility is a small but mighty operation that is volunteer managed by David Botzenhart, owner of the Waxhaw Worm Farm (9). This facility converts hundreds of pounds of food waste into animal feed and frass every few months. The primary input comes from The Bulb (10), also housed at the Innovation Barn. The Bulb rescues edible food from farmers and grocers and distributes it in areas that lack easy access to a grocery store. The BSF Composting Facility thus helps to keep expired food that The Bulb receives from going into the landfill.
To learn more about Black Soldier Fly composting, check out this guide from Purdue University Extension. Here is a video of a commercial BSF facility recently launched in Trinidad and Tobago in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
If you would like to see the BSF facility at the Charlotte, NC Innovation Barn in action, David Botzenhart is organizing a free workshop on March 15, 2025, in celebration of the Worm Moon. You can sign up for that free workshop here.
To learn more about composting and other sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices, contact Dr. Todd DeZwaan, Urban Agriculture and Horticulture Agent with N.C. Cooperative Extension, Mecklenburg County Center at todd_dezwaan@ncsu.edu.
References:
(1) ReFED (2016). The ReFED Roadmap to Reducing Food Waste
(2) FAOSTAT (2025). Data from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(3) OR Dept. of Environmental Quality (2019). Oregon Wasted Food Study
(4) USDA (2024). Household Food Security in the United States in 2023
(5) USDA. https://www.usda.gov/foodlossandwaste/consumers
(6) EPA (2019). Determination of As-Discarded Methane Potential in Residential and Commercial Municipal Solid Waste
(7) EPA. https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/wasted-food-scale
(8) Innovation Barn. https://envisioncharlotte.com/innovation-barn/
(9) Waxhaw Worm Farm. https://waxhawwormfarm.com/
(10) The Bulb. https://www.thebulbgallery.org/