Are larvae of the black soldier fly – Hermetia illucens – a financianlly viable option for organic waste management in Costa Rica?

Current waste management in Costa Rica is by large dependant on the formal as well as the informal private sector. Rural communities are almost entirely devoid of any sort of regulated solid waste management system and in urban areas, inorganic waste recycling is practised mostly by the informal sector, mainly at neighbourhood level, where waste pickers rummage through waste bins and bags on the street. However, the large fraction of organic solid waste (~55 % of the total waste) is still not recycled and generally remains in the waste stream, i.e. it is either dumped into more or less controlled landfills or remains uncollected on the street. Use of larvae of the black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens, offers a promising approach to transform organic waste into a valuable product, thereby rendering separation and collection of organic waste attractive. According to preliminary results, a sheltered area of 1,000 m is required to treat three tons (wet weight) of municipal organic waste per day. Such a treatment plant would produce a daily prepupal harvest of ~150 kg (dry weight) worth USD 150 if sold as aquacultural feed.