{"id":49679,"date":"2023-05-04T15:10:54","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T19:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging24.finca.org\/uncategorized-en-gb\/supporting-sustainable-waste-management"},"modified":"2024-11-04T02:27:21","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T07:27:21","slug":"supporting-sustainable-waste-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finca.org\/en-gb\/supporting-sustainable-waste-management","title":{"rendered":"FINCA Ventures: Supporting Innovative Approaches to Sustainable Waste Management in East Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In East Africa, over 30 percent<\/a> of food produced is spoiled due to a lack of proper post-harvest storage and route to market and in Tanzania alone, 26K tons of food waste is produced per day. Countries across sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing challenges with waste management. More than 90 percent<\/a> of waste generated in Africa is disposed of at uncontrolled dumpsites and landfills, often with associated open burning, which results in the generation of greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food waste is the largest component<\/a> going into municipal landfills and one third of all CO2 and methane produced worldwide is by organic waste. At the same time, Africa\u2019s population is expected to double by 2050<\/a> to reach 2.5B people and this growth in population, alongside rising incomes, is spurring animal protein demand across the continent, with near term projected growth in consumption annually between 2-3% across major protein categories. The high cost of feed, which accounts for 60\u201370 percent<\/a> of production costs, is currently a constraint on animal production. Fishmeal, which is the most prevalent protein source in conventional chicken feed and is unreliable and unsustainable to collect, is the only source of protein that is currently available, and prices are continuing to climb across the continent as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benefits of Black Soldier Flies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A strong need to support innovative models cutting across local waste management and agro-input ecosystems is why FINCA Ventures<\/a> invested in Chanzi<\/a>, a Tanzanian company founded in 2019 that designs and operates breeding and production facilities for black soldier fly (BSF) larvae to produce animal feed protein additives. Chanzi purchases \/ offtakes unwanted food waste from smallholder farmers, commercial farms, urban markets, and businesses, converts the food waste into protein using BSF larvae, and sells the feed additive to livestock, poultry and fish farmers, agrodealers, and feed mills across Tanzania (and soon in Kenya).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anaerobic digestion, composting, and waste-to-energy facilities are among the more environmentally friendly methods of alternative waste treatment that more African countries are adopting. The use of Black soldier flies in organic waste composting is a self-sustaining, economical approach that produces high resource recovery and value-added products like organic fertilizer and protein additives for animal feed. Through the circular nature of BSF production, BSF can gain up to 5000 times<\/a> their body weight in just two weeks by consuming organic waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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