(Image source from: Theguardian.com)

A team from Australia's Macquarie University has started developing a bow tie to help tackle the world's waste crisis. Based on the black soldier fly, this modified insect can feed on all types of organic waste, from food waste to industrial byproducts. In a new paper published in the journal Communication Biology, scientists say that in addition to providing a means of waste disposal, these flies also produce lubricants, oil for biofuels and high-value materials such as feed animals. Additionally, reducing the amount of organic waste in landfills is also expected to reduce methane emissions, a dangerous greenhouse gas that causes climate change. This research has great potential to change the concept of waste management and lead it towards a more sustainable future. “The disposal of organic waste is a major global challenge. “Currently, 40 to 70 percent of organic waste is disposed of in landfills, which are heavily compacted due to space constraints,” say the study’s authors. This leads to anaerobic microbial decomposition of organic waste. Organic waste turns into methane, a greenhouse gas (GHG) 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide".

As a result, the solid waste sector is estimated to be responsible for 5% of annual CO2 equivalent emissions, with the majority coming from methane produced when organic waste is landfilled, said Dr. Keith Tepper, lead author of the paper on the biggest challenges in waste management that microbes have failed to solve. The black-footed fly is now known for its value in waste management as it consumes commercial organic waste before being processed as "insect biomass" into pets and feed for commercial poultry farms and fish farms. But McQuarrie's team believes genetic engineering could expand the utility of the black soldier fly, turning its waste into animal feed or valuable industrial raw materials. Manipulating insects to produce industrial enzymes and lipids not used in the food supply chain expands the types of usable organic waste and increases the utility of low-quality organic waste. According to Macquarie University, the black soldier fly (BSF), Hermetia illucens, is a widespread and mass-produced insect that plays an important role in both the disposal of organic waste and as an ingredient in animal feed formulations. It also has high potential as a substrate for converting organic waste into valuable proteins and lipids for biofuel production. The use of synthetic biology in BSF offers further potential for improvement through the production of transgenic BSF for animal feed fortification, the production and fine-tuning of high-quality industrial biomolecules, and the expansion of waste conversion options.