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Should we be letting flies eat our food waste?
bbc ^ | 06/26/2025 | MaryLou Costa

Posted on 06/26/2025 10:39:20 PM PDT by BenLurkin

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.

But a handful of city councils have embraced maggots - more formally known as fly larvae - and their taste for rotting food.

In Vilnius, capital of the Baltic state of Lithuania, fly larvae have officially been given the job of processing the 2,700 tonnes of food waste the city's 607,000 residents put out for collection each year, alongside that of the six neighbouring councils.

Energesman, the waste management company that began relieving Vilnius of its food waste earlier this year, doesn't actually charge the city for this service.

That is saving the city the city up to €2m (£1.7m; $2.3m) per year, based on a target of processing 12,000 tonnes in 2026 says the company's chief executive, Algirda Blazgys.

Energesman has rolled out 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 is only a fraction of the 40,000 tonnes of household waste the city is thought to generate.

Last year it become mandatory for councils to collect food waste, so the city needs to find ways to deal with it.

Energesman, meanwhile, has plans to turn the fattened fly larvae into a new income stream.

It houses around six million flies in a special zone within its Vilnius plant, who mate around every six hours, according to CEO Algirdas Blazgys.

A female fly can lay around 500 eggs in her average 21-day lifespan, so Mr Blazgys and his team are dealing with more than three million larvae a month, who can consume more than 11 tonnes of food waste in the first, hungriest days of their lives.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: earbuds; flies; larvae

1 posted on 06/26/2025 10:39:20 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

F.T.A.:
“The trick is to cull them before they transform into mature flies. That way the protein rich fly larvae can be converted into protein products for use in animal feed or industrial use, for example as an ingredient in paint, glue, lamp shades and furniture covers.”

Just a matter of time before some hamburger joint figures out a way to market these larvae as ‘protein enriched’ patties and to claim that as earth-friendly cuisine


2 posted on 06/26/2025 11:09:23 PM PDT by Oscar in Batangas (An Honors Graduate from the Don Rickles School of Personal Verbal Intercourse)
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To: BenLurkin
Whether or not this is a good idea depends upon the species of fly. Black soldier flies (Hermetia illucens) are not a bad option. From Brave AI Search: Soldier flies, specifically black soldier flies (BSF), play a significant role in composting by efficiently breaking down organic material. Their larvae are particularly effective at decomposing high-nitrogen materials such as kitchen food scraps and manures, which they consume and further break down into forms that can be utilized by other decomposers.

These larvae are known to reduce the volume of organic waste, including manure, and stabilize plant nutrients within their bodies.

In addition to their role in composting, soldier fly larvae can be used as a protein source for animals, including chickens and fish, and their frass (excrement) can serve as a nutrient-rich fertilizer.

They are also beneficial in reducing the population of other nuisance flies by consuming their larvae.

While soldier flies are generally beneficial, they can sometimes outcompete earthworms in composting systems, leading to issues where they may take over the compost bin and affect the composting process.

However, with proper management, such as adjusting the moisture levels and ensuring a balance between green and brown materials, it is possible to maintain a healthy composting environment that includes both soldier flies and earthworms.

Overall, soldier flies contribute positively to the composting process by accelerating decomposition and converting organic waste into valuable resources.


3 posted on 06/26/2025 11:26:11 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: Carry_Okie

Those were helpful flies that walked around Obama’s lips.


4 posted on 06/26/2025 11:50:33 PM PDT by BerryDingle (I know how to deal with communists, I still wear their scars on my back from Hollywood-Ronald Reagan)
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To: BerryDingle

Those were helpful flies that walked around Obama’s lips.


And Mike Pence’s hair.


5 posted on 06/26/2025 11:54:20 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: BenLurkin

Most species of larvae are 60+ % protein, complete protein containing all 9 essential amino acids. This is twice as much as beef by mass. The remainder is lipids and carbohydrates.

Feed trials have all been hugely successful , especially with fish feeds. Fish farms must feed 60-80% protein based feeds to their predatory salmon,bass,trout and tuna. This protein is nearly always fish meal based off wild caught fish. DNA testing has shown this meal is not “trash” or bait fish its first grade human edible fish being ground up for profits. Every Kcal in fish meal is one taken from the wild and it takes 3-5 times in mass of feed to farmed fish output. It should be immediately apparent to anyone with above room temp IQ this is a bad idea. It’s been proven you can swap 100% of the fish meal out for larvae proteins and lipids. This is a good idea then as you take food wastes heading for the landfill and turn them into high grade proteins for feed.

Feed trials with chickens and pigs equally as successful here again nearly 100% of the protein needed by either can be larvae based. Little surprise to anyone who has ever raised pigs or chickens they attack and eat bugs with vigor. Pigs will eat the manure maggots and all with glee. You turn the hogs out to a pasture that had cattle on it a few days before and the first thing they do is eat the manure poles and fly maggots to the last scrap then they go rooting for grubs and other creepy crawly things to nosh on. Chickens same same they will attack a manure pile for the maggots with velociraptor like efficiency.

Not everything is a Qtard, month breather conspiracy to force the plebs to eatzzzbugs. 40% of all food is thrown away as waste it’s abysmal humans waste so much. We should be upcycling and recycling as much as possible.


6 posted on 06/27/2025 12:01:43 AM PDT by GenXPolymath
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To: BenLurkin

Probably black soldier flies- which are actually kind of cute, unlike house flies. They are slender and look like little black wasps more than they do flies. Their maggots don’t look gross like the tiny white maggots of houseflies and blowflies do. They look more like a dry slug or flattened brown caterpillar...and are great fish bait as well as prized high protein chicken food.

Most importantly, they work fast- almost instantly consuming anything, including houseful maggots, and leaving no odor. They are especially good at cleaning up aviaries and moldy feed, and composting it into great soil.


7 posted on 06/27/2025 3:31:06 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustmilents offered here free of charge)
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To: BenLurkin

Good news! Now I don’t have to scrub out the garbage cans anymore.


8 posted on 06/27/2025 4:39:30 AM PDT by DeplorablePaul
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To: BenLurkin

Yikes, out of Africa.


9 posted on 06/27/2025 5:03:16 AM PDT by exPBRrat
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To: BenLurkin
What could go wrong.

Well...

A case of intestinal myiasis causing acute dysentery

Guess the perp.

10 posted on 06/27/2025 5:20:30 AM PDT by mewzilla (Swing away, Mr. President, swing away!)
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To: mewzilla
Deep State clearly loves this idea...

A soldier in the fight Black soldier fly fights food insecurity

Deep State's definition of so-called food insecurity...

"Food insecurity is defined as a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food."

Snort.

Eat za bugs.

11 posted on 06/27/2025 5:28:37 AM PDT by mewzilla (Swing away, Mr. President, swing away!)
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To: Oscar in Batangas

I used to keep a food waste bucket out by the shed to harvest maggots for my chickens and my aquarium fish.

Getting food waste from restaurants to feed your pigs used to be a common practice as well.


12 posted on 06/27/2025 5:59:36 AM PDT by Valpal1 (Not even the police are safe from the police!!!)
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To: BenLurkin; Diana in Wisconsin; Tilted Irish Kilt; Augie; Pollard
Ben, Thanks for posting! As you know, Hermetia illucens is an excellent insect helper to gardeners and farmers! They are disconcerting if they fly around you in the garden, but their larvae make excellent compost!

Solier Flies in Compost

Black Soldier Flies: Mostly Beneficial

Snip...."They do have a downside in some situations. Unfortunately, although Black Soldier Fly larvae and red worms both like the same food, the fly larvae are extremely active, like warm, moist conditions, and tend to make the soil acidic which is not good for worms, so if you have worm bins it is prudent to check them from time to time and remove any Black Soldier Fly larvae that may be present.

The frass that black soldier flies produce makes a clean, odor-free compost, but in my experience the food conversion into the body of the insect is so efficient, there is not a great volume of compost remaining! Dried larvae may also be pulverized and used as fertilizer."

In addition, the larvae are good chicken food! (And, I imagine, Fish food!)

Black Soldier Flies as Chicken Feed

**On a down note, since removing most of he invasive Japanese honeysuckle on my property, I have only found 2 woolly bear caterpillers! (Isabella Tiger Moth, Pyrrharctia isabella.)

13 posted on 06/27/2025 8:11:06 AM PDT by Pete from Shawnee Mission
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