BSF are being used to upcycle organic waste into higher value products, particularly for the pet, soil and livestock feed industries.
Black Soldier Fly (BSF) are increasingly being recognised as an innovative solution that can help unlock the potential of the circular economy. In natural ecosystems, insects play critical roles as pollinators, predators, and prey for a wide range of organisms. Many insects, including the BSF, also serve as natural waste processors, converting organic material into body mass and nutrient-rich excrement. In so doing, they keep nutrients cycling indefinitely within their ecosystem.
A circular economy maximises the value of products, components, and materials for as long as possible. This includes the nutrients embedded in animal feed and human food.
A number of South African innovators are leveraging BSF larvae to upcycle low-value organic waste into high-value products. These products have a wide array of applications: animal feed and pet food, but also for crop production and healthy soils to feed the food that feeds us.
This industry brief, which has been produced with support from the Anglo American Foundation, serves as an update to the 2024 edition. It explores the role of the BSF in fostering a more regenerative, resilient, and competitive food system. It provides an overview of the current state of South Africa’s BSF sector and highlights the opportunities it presents in diverting organic waste from landfills, future-proofing animal feed supply chains, enhancing soil health.
This brief is part of a broader set of publications on BSF, with the full list of publications, all of which are available for free download, below.
- Original BSF agriculture brief (click)
- De-risking through carbon markets (click)
- A regulatory landscape brief (click)
- Upscaling organic waste into pet, soil and livestock feed (click)
- Chitin opportunity brief (click)
- Frass opportunity brief (click)
- Spent brewery grain value add (click)
- Inseco food waste upcycling (click)
To access the updated industry brief, click on the PDF download above.
GreenCape thanks the Anglo American Foundation for its support of this work.