The MonsterEnvironmental team has cultivated black soldier flies to process food waste, reducing carbon emissions and creating new economic benefits for the upstream, mid-stream, and downstream sectors.
Taiwan’s food self-sufficiency rate is less than 40%, but more than 2 million metric tons of food waste are generated every year. To face the issue of food waste, the MonsterEnvironmental team started from the perspective of ecological recycling and used tens of millions of black soldier flies to digest about ten tons of organic waste in a single day, while at the same time converting it into reusable protein raw materials and fertilizer.
Little black soldier flies harness the strength of a monster to decompose food waste
By cultivating black soldier flies, organic waste can be effectively processed; in addition, the insects and excrement have economic value. When the black soldier fly enters the pupal stage, its body and excrement are dried and processed, and these can be used as a high-quality protein source for aquaculture, poultry feed, and pet food. MonsterEnvironmental has cooperated with neighboring chicken farmers to feed the chickens with insect feed and provide fertilizer to small farmers, forming a circular economy system. The MonsterEnvironmental team has 14 million black soldier flies and can process about 200 tons of food waste every year. The company’s business model is divided into front-end and back-end. The front-end is responsible for recycling food waste from large food companies and chain restaurants, while the back-end sells black soldier fly protein and excrement to feed companies and agricultural and livestock operators.
Benefits
- MonsterEnvironmental currently breeds about 14 million black soldier flies. A single fly can consume 2 to 3 kilograms of waste as it grows from larva to adult.
- Compared with traditional food waste that produces an average of 600 kilograms of carbon emissions through combustion and about 200 kilograms of carbon emissions from landfill disposal, the growth process of the black soldier fly only produces about 12 kilograms of carbon emissions.
- The platform serves as a bridge between the company and feed manufacturers, enabling them to purchase insect protein produced from black soldier flies; in addition, the excrement and protein-rich black soldier fly larvae are sold to individual companies in the agricultural and livestock industry. This can replace the soybeans and corn required for feed and reduce the problem of deforestation overseas.