Building Circular Food Systems
P4G Theme
Food and Agriculture Value Chain
SDG
Status
Completed
Countries of Operation
South Africa , Kenya ,
About
Building Circular Food Systems will move the African continent towards sustainable waste management and food systems by using insects to convert food waste into low-carbon, high-value protein for animal feed and biofertilizer.
Investing in Impact
P4G awarded the partnership $583,825 in grant funding.
The Building Circular Food Systems partnership uses Black Soldier Fly larvae to replace protein sources such as wild-caught fish and soya, mitigating ecosystem destruction and deforestation.
A distinct innovation of this partnership model is the satellite facility concept where Chanzi builds smaller facilities across multiple sites instead of operating from one decentralized location. This reduces transportation costs and encourages rapid growth.
During the partnership period, Chanzi built a new waste management and conversion facility in Kenya in August 2023 and expanded its operations to two facilities in Tanzania. Within one year, the partnership increased the daily average amount of waste collected by 260% - moving from 7.7 metric tons daily to 21 metric tons daily – across Kenya and Tanzania.
The partnership has delivered great results since January 2023
- Collected more than 5,000 tons of organic waste
- Produced 112 metric tons of high-value, low-carbon protein and 493 tons of bio-fertilizer
- Benefited more than 9,000 crop and livestock farmers
- Prevented 2,331 metric tons of Co2 emission and 101 metric tons of methane from entering the atmosphere
- Developed four learning reports
The partnership developed knowledge reports that included studying the feasibility of generating carbon credits; to showcase the environment benefits of Black Soldier Fly frass fertilizer and biochar for smallholder farmers; and to assess the financial benefits of the bio-fertilizer on coffee farming against commercial fertilizers.
Chanzi’s long-term vision is to have 47 facilities by 2028 processing 2000MT of organic waste daily, impacting more than 10,000 individually directly through job creation, and avoiding more than 200,000 metric tons of carbon emissions annually.
The P4G partnership comprises three companies: Chanzi, Unilever, and AB InBev, and nonprofit organization, the AB InBev Foundation (ABIF). Chanzi is the commercial partner driving the business model, while ABIF convenes stakeholders to progress this model and monitors and evaluates the partnership. Unilever and AB InBev supply Chanzi with organic waste that is converted into animal protein.
Partners
