Woolworths will be the foundation customer of a new system launching in Sydney’s Wetherill Park to tackle the city’s mounting food waste problem, Waste Management Review reports.
The system, by Goterra, uses insects called Black Soldier Fly larvae to break down food waste onsite rapidly, at a large scale. Housed in high-tech, shipping container-sized units dubbed ‘Maggot Robots,’ the larvae can devour vast amounts of waste, reducing it by 95 per cent in 24 hours.
This process generates organic fertiliser and nutrient-dense protein meal as by-products, supporting a circular economy. And by handling waste onsite, countless truck trips to distant landfills are avoided.Woolworths will send food waste from its stores across the Sydney region to the Wetherill Park facility. The retailer has been using Goterra’s technology in a small-scale trial across its ACT stores since 2020.
Goterra CEO Olympia Yarger said this decentralised model is transformative for Sydney, which produces more than 600,000 tonnes of food waste annually, mostly trucked to landfills outside the metro area.
The prominent Sydney site, processing more than 100 tonnes every week, will immediately create 12 new jobs for locals to Fairfield City Council and provides a blueprint for managing food waste sustainably.
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Maggot ‘robots’ helping work towards zero food waste (Waste Management Review)
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