Effect of different environmental conditions on the growth and development of Black Soldier Fly Larvae and its utilization in solid waste management and pollution mitigation

The current waste treatment techniques in developing countries do not meet the standards of appropriate waste management systems. Poor waste management leads to serious environmental issues at the local and global levels, for which an effective and sustainable waste disposal system is in urgent need. Due to its proven waste degradation and biotransformation capabilities, the Black Soldier Fly (BSF) provides a potential and economical alternative to recycling biological waste. The current study investigated the interactions between municipal and organic waste with the help of Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) as a growing medium for substrate culture by comparing the physicochemical parameters of waste before and after BSFL treatment of municipal and organic waste. The study results revealed that BSFL can improve the quality of the final product and promote the degradation of organic waste, although BSFL cannot effectively directly degrade municipal solid waste, it can reduce municipal solid waste by efficiently degrading organic waste. The optimal environmental conditions for BSFL breeding and growth was summarized in this study, and the environmental conditions of four seasons of four representative cities in different location of Pakistan were collected and analyzed. The most suitable cities for the development of the BSFL waste treatment system were first inferred, which makes basic research for developing an economical and feasible waste treatment system in Pakistan. A comprehensive legal framework regarding integrated MSW management systems should be introduced and implemented in Pakistan, including that local municipal authorities should collect the waste collection fee. (c) 2022 Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

The current waste treatment techniques in developing countries fail to meet the standards of appropriate waste management systems. The Black Soldier Fly (BSF) offers a potential and economical alternative for recycling biological waste due to its proven capabilities in waste degradation and biotransformation. This study investigated the interactions between municipal and organic waste using Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) as a growing medium, and revealed that BSFL can enhance the quality of the final product and promote the degradation of organic waste. Although BSFL cannot effectively directly degrade municipal solid waste, it can reduce it by efficiently degrading organic waste. The study also identified the optimal environmental conditions for BSFL breeding and growth, and inferred the most suitable cities for developing the BSFL waste treatment system in Pakistan.