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Canberra-based sustainability technology scale-up Goterra has struck an agreement with Australia’s largest hotel, the Hyatt Regency Sydney, to process hundreds of tonnes of food waste produced at the property each year.
Goterra's system, created by Olympia Yarger, employs innovative technology to manage food waste using black soldier fly larvae to break down food waste onsite rapidly and at scale.
Housed in high-tech, containerised units dubbed “Maggot Robots”, the larvae can reduce food waste by 95 per cent in just 24 hours.
"When you manage food waste with insects, you radically reduce the impact it has on the world,” says Yarger, the CEO of Goterra.
“Using insects in tandem with industrial robotics means we manage waste efficiently, producing a sustainable protein that can be used in agricultural supply chains, creating a truly circular system."
Hyatt Regency Sydney has 878 rooms and 4,000sqm of meeting and event spaces that can house up to 1,000 guests.
The hotel says that by adopting Goterra’s food waste management system it is setting a new standard for sustainability initiatives in the hospitality sector.
Goterra’s processed food waste from the Hyatt Regency, an insect protein byproduct, will be provided to the hotel’s key egg supplier, Hilltops Free Range, as a feed mix alternative.
"At Hyatt Regency Sydney, we are deeply committed to sustainability and environmental stewardship and advancement,” says the hotel’s general manager Jane Lyons.
“The implementation of Goterra’s innovative food waste management system represents a significant milestone in our journey to reduce our carbon footprint.
“By transforming our food waste into sustainable protein for agricultural use, including suppling to our own egg supplier, Hilltops Free Range to feed their chickens, we are creating a circular economy.
“This initiative aligns perfectly with our ongoing efforts to consider sustainability in all aspects of our operations.”
Goterra, which was founded by Yarger in 2016, earlier this year secured a partnership with the Australian arm of the world's largest fish feed business, Skretting, to source its insect protein derived from food waste in a breakthrough offtake deal.
Locations currently tapping into the Goterra model include a landfill in Albury, the Barangaroo precinct in Sydney, Melbourne Airport, Howard Smith Wharves in Brisbane, and Woolworths stores in Albury and Canberra.
Woolworths is also expected to supply 3,000 tonnes of food waste annually to a new project in the final stages of completion in Sydney's Wetherill Park.
The company also reached a deal with the City of Sydney in June to trial its food waste processing technology at a new facility in Alexandria.
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