Food Waste Upcycling

The document highlights the critical waste management challenges in Cape Town, where landfills are reaching capacity and organic waste contributes significantly to methane emissions. It presents Inseco as a circular economy solution that processes organic waste using Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae to produce protein meal, oil, grubs, soil, and chitin. This process diverts waste from landfills, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and provides sustainable alternatives to soy and wild fish protein. Inseco's operations are projected to save companies money on landfill fees, create jobs, and support biodiversity by reducing reliance on deforestation-linked soy and overfished wild fish stocks.

• Cape Town faces a critical landfill capacity crisis, with the city potentially running out of airspace by 2032. Food waste is a major contributor, estimated at 14.5% of landfilled waste, potentially reaching 20% when including other residual organics.
• Landfilling organic waste creates significant climate and legislative liabilities. Methane produced in anaerobic landfill environments has historically made the waste sector responsible for 10–11% of Cape Town’s greenhouse gas emissions. Consequently, Western Cape provincial authorities require landfills to restrict organic waste disposal by 50% by 2022 and 100% by 2027.
• Inseco utilizes Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae to convert organic waste into five high-value products: protein meal (an alternative to soy and wild fish), oil (rich in lauric acid), grubs (for animal feed), organic soil fertiliser, and chitin (for pharmaceuticals and cosmetics).
• Inseco's Philippi facility is designed to scale its processing capacity from 40 tonnes of organic waste per day in the short term to 100 tonnes per day in the long term.
• The environmental impact of Inseco's operations includes an expected annual saving of 15,000 to 17,000 tonnes of GHG emissions and the production of 2,000 to 2,200 tonnes of non-fossil fuel based organic fertiliser.
• Inseco supports biodiversity by replacing wild fish and soy protein. One tonne of BSF protein meal can replace five tonnes of wild fish; Inseco expects to replace 1,500 to 1,800 tonnes of wild fish annually.
• The economic benefits for businesses include landfill gate fee savings estimated between R2.5 million and R3.0 million per year, and potential rebates for waste streams between R0.7 million and R2 million.
• Inseco contributes to the local economy by extracting R3,500 to R4,000 of value from every tonne of input food waste, adding an estimated R30 to R40 million to the economy annually and employing 72 full-time staff at full scale.

APA

GreenCape (n.d.). Food Waste Upcycling. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Inseco-Case-Study-4.pdf

Chicago

GreenCape. Food Waste Upcycling. n.d. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Inseco-Case-Study-4.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=GreenCape |title=Food Waste Upcycling |url=https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Inseco-Case-Study-4.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greencapendfood, author = {{GreenCape}}, title = {{Food Waste Upcycling}}, institution = {GreenCape}, url = {https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Inseco-Case-Study-4.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }