More than 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted per year worldwide. Seeing this staggering amount, many communities are immediately thrust into productive conversations about sustainable waste management solutions. One innovative pilot program in Vilnius, Lithuania illustrates the potential for fly larvae to help divert food waste. This pioneering model turns trash into cash. This unique approach addresses the pressing issue of food waste. It’s delivering green infrastructure solutions to our most underserved communities.
Energesman, a waste management company in Vilnius, has developed an ingenious new system. At scale, fly larvae quickly digest incredible volumes of local residents’ food scraps. As one of Canada’s largest cities, generating around 40,000 tonnes of household waste each year, Calgary partners with Energesman to handle this material. Even more impressively, the larvae can completely devour a 16-inch pizza in under two hours. As caterpillars, during their most voracious phase of life, they can eat more than 11 tonnes of organic food waste!
Inside Energesman’s state-of-the-art facility, about six million flies are kept under tight control in climate-controlled rooms. This is particularly concerning given that these insects have incredible reproductive capacity. In as little as 21 days, one female can produce nearly 500 eggs! Their quick reproductive cycle allows for a continuous breakdown of food waste. Flies reproduce every six hours, providing a constant source of readily-available larvae.
The project has resonated with local governments and solid waste professionals. Larry Kotch advocates insect-based waste management in the UK. He’s convinced councils will be implementing these sorts of practices in no time. He stated that “the UK could see its first council-contracted insect plant within two years.” Kotch underscored the myriad advantages of taking this approach. He noted that around the world more than 1.3 billion tonnes of food are lost every year. We think as much as 40% of that could be upcycled through integrated insect waste management.
Similarly, in Vilnius, the city pays nothing to process its food waste in its partnership with Energesman. Yet this model has been extraordinarily successful. It can show other cities what’s possible and motivate them to pursue similar public-private collaborations as they address their own waste management challenges.
“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,” Kotch added. His remarks underscore a growing interest in waste-to-energy initiatives. These new techniques, in the right conditions, can help relieve pressure on our classic landfill systems.
Meanwhile, the UK prepares to introduce mandatory weekly household food waste collections by March 2026. We shouldn’t underestimate the promise that fly larvae can bring to this change. Currently, almost a third – 148 of England’s 317 local authorities – have no food waste collections. This trend points to the great demand for creative fix — especially now, with this time of year’s food waste.
Algirda Blazgys, one of the main advocates for this concept’s emergence in Vilnius, recalled the opposition and doubt that greeted the project’s inception. “We came up with some crazy ideas, then we started looking for other people that could come with some crazy ideas about what we could do,” he said. Blazgys said she was feeling cautiously optimistic about the project’s future. He added, “Because it’s so new, there are some folks sort of waiting to see if we’re going to make this work, so they’re not ready to crow about it yet. It’s a lot of work, but I really believe that we’re going to produce something much better as a result.
The larvae can be cultivated to produce high quality edible protein and organic fertilizer, making it a double whammy solution to both waste management and resource generation. This groundbreaking model may soon have a far-reaching ripple effect on the way municipalities deal with waste disposal in the years to come.
Cities around the globe—from Milan to São Paulo—are leading the charge on how to more sustainably address food waste. Initiatives like those in Vilnius will be invaluable case studies for these efforts to follow. Effective realization of these pilot projects can pave the way for wider adoption of insect-based solutions. Such a change would mean their inclusion in future global waste management approaches.