How to Build a DIY Black Soldier Fly Grub Composter (Video)

It made it into this infographic on which composting method is best for you, but it's fair to say that grub composting—or the practice of disposing of organic waste by feeding it to black soldier fly larvae—is still relatively obscure. Yet, as I noted in my post on a commercially available grub composter, this method gets rid of veggie scraps and even raw and cooked meats at an astoundingly fast rate. And, best of all, it turns those food scraps into complex proteins that can be used as fish or animal feed. Here's a neat video on one DIY project for building your own homemade grub composter.

In the best tradition of online how to videos, our (faceless) host gives us a very detailed run through of what he has done and why. Covering everything from preventing grub escapes to keeping odors to a minimum, there are some very useful tips for anyone wanting to take this project on

Here's part two:

And here's an update after the system had been put into action, which nicely negates any concerns about swarms of flies infesting your home. It seems black soldier fly are pretty unobtrusive creatures. Who knew?

Updates to this design are available via the creator's Black Soldier Fly Blog.

As for what you'd do with black soldier fly larvae, everyone from backyard chicken keepers to aquaponics enthusiasts should find uses for these protein-rich grubs. They also hapen to make a wonderful feedstock for biodiesel that is supposedly superior to soy beans. But that would need a hell of a lot of grubs! (Much like chicken-fat biodiesel, fuel made from grubs is not suitable for vegans.)