With a growing population, both food and waste production will increase. There is an urgent need for innovative ways of valorizing waste. The black soldier fly ( L.) efficiently converts agri-food by-products (BPs) into high-quality materials; its rearing process yields larvae (BSFL) rich in fat and protein for feed purposes, with “frass” acting as organic fertilizer. While the insect rearing sector is expanding, few producers use BPs. Therefore, a case study approach was adopted to evaluate the potential for establishing an Italian BSFL production plant on BPs available on the territory. After contacting more than 115 agri-food companies (maximum 100 km from the BSFL plant), they were classified based on sector, distance, size, and BPs (quantity, seasonality, management). BPs with a low value (fruit and vegetable residues) were treated as waste, associated with costs and low valorization. By merging the available BPs on the territory and following the literature on BSFL nutritional needs’ two diets (Scenario BSFL) were created, assessing their suitability comparing them to the current full-scale plant diet (Scenario 0). The exploitation of BPs for BSFL rearing reduced local waste production by 52 % compared to conventional composting (Scenario 0). In addition, integrating BPs into the larval feed formulation increased BSFL production value (+47 times). These results highlight the potential of locally-based insect rearing to valorize BPs and create a network of sustainable actors within the agri-food industry. Further investigations are needed to improve the connection between agri-food and insect industrial activities, expanding this framework to other regions.

中文翻译：

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当地循环经济：意大利农业食品行业的 BSF 昆虫饲养

随着人口的增长，食物和废物的产生都会增加。迫切需要创新的方法来实现废物的价值。黑水虻 (L.) 有效地将农产品副产品 (BP) 转化为优质材料；其饲养过程中产生富含脂肪和蛋白质的幼虫（BSFL），可用作饲料，“草渣”可用作有机肥料。虽然昆虫饲养业正在扩大，但很少有生产商使用 BP。因此，采用案例研究方法来评估利用当地现有的 BP 建立意大利 BSFL 生产工厂的潜力。在联系了超过 115 家农业食品公司（距离 BSFL 工厂最多 100 公里）后，根据行业、距离、规模和 BP（数量、季节性、管理）对它们进行了分类。低价值的BP（水果和蔬菜残留物）被视为废物，与成本和低价值相关。通过合并该地区的可用 BP 并遵循有关 BSFL 营养需求的文献，创建了两种饮食（场景 BSFL），并将其与当前的全面植物饮食（场景 0）进行比较，评估其适用性。与传统堆肥相比，利用 BP 进行 BSFL 饲养可减少当地废物产生量 52%（情景 0）。此外，将 BP 融入幼虫饲料配方中还提高了 BSFL 产值（+47 倍）。这些结果凸显了当地昆虫饲养在提高 BP 价值并在农业食品行业内创建可持续行动者网络方面的潜力。需要进一步调查以改善农业食品和昆虫工业活动之间的联系，并将这一框架扩展到其他地区。