The Efficiency of Black Soldier Fly Larvae with Vegetable, Fruit and Food Waste as Biological Tool for Sustainable Management of Organic Waste

Abstract

This study investigated the sustainable management of wet organic waste using Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) for an innovative biological approach to waste management. The organic wet wastes such as fruit, vegetable, and food wastes were processed and fed to BSFL larvae from day 5 and the bioconversion process was carried out at Black Soldier Fly Unit, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University for 21 days. Among the three wastes, the highest bioconversion efficiency was recorded in fruit waste with 67% Substrate Reduction, 10.8% Efficiency of Conversion of Digested feed, 5.7% Bio Conversion Rate, and 4.18 Waste Reduction Index after 21 days. Whereas vegetable and food waste achieved similar bioconversion efficiency. The results suggest that BSFL-based bioconversion can be an effective and eco-friendly waste management and resource recovery technique to significantly lower the volumes of organic wet waste while converting it into high-value biomass and leading to a circular economy model.