I slowly started separating the maggots from the rotting food. For the first few minutes, my stomach turned at the sight of these tiny, gray creatures wriggling around. When I pursued a summer job at a factory to learn about sustainable waste management, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.

So, how did I get here?

Growing up in Jakarta, Indonesia, signs of pollution were a normal part of my smoggy car rides to school. It wasn’t uncommon to see garbage and food waste piled on the sidewalks and the roads. As my interest in chemistry evolved in the classroom, I became more curious about the relationship between chemical processes, food waste, and greenhouse gas emissions. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that approximately one-third of all food produced for human consumption, around 1.3 billion tons is lost or wasted each year, contributing to approximately 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. This past summer, I reached out to Greenprosa, a biotechnology company based in Indonesia, to work on their integrated waste management project. Their goal? To process food waste without producing CO2 emissions and, at the same time, create a more sustainable protein source.

So back to the maggots.

At the waste facility, we focused on two processes. One was collecting, compressing, and shipping inorganic waste. This waste included matter such as plastic bottles, plastic bags, and cardboard brought into the facility via trash trucks. I sorted the inorganic trash onto a conveyor belt where it is brought to a machine to grind it into the liquid to feed the black soldier fly’s larvae – the maggots. The second process involved the eggs. Measuring out the 5 grams of eggs into a “bundle,” I deposited them into plastic containers full of leftover food collected from nearby resorts and restaurants. Once the eggs hatched, and the larvae reached 1-2 centimeters, I separated the maggots from their food and placed them into an air-fry machine so they could be packaged up for both human and animal use as a more sustainable, protein-rich snack.

Sitting in a classroom learning about sustainability and reduction of energy consumption is quite different from watching the real process, where it came alive. It was remarkable to watch the maggots transform nearly any kind of organic waste — cafeteria refuse, manure, even toxic algae — into high-quality protein, all while leaving a smaller carbon footprint than it found.

Using larvae to eliminate food waste at this scale could be an ecological game-changer. A 2011 U.N. report detailed how rotting food emits millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, accounting for about 7 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. But when maggots consume food waste, they take all that carbon with them and transform the waste into high-quality protein with a lower energy footprint.

Maybe our path towards a greener future is paved with ...maggots?