15th May 2020
Cockroaches have many superpowers; notwithstanding their small stature, they are mighty creatures. They can devour almost anything and consume food amounts weighing up to 5% of their body mass each day. These are just some of the facts that inspired Li to break into the cockroach industry. Yes, you read that right and yes, there is such a thing as a cockroach industry, in China. Li is an entrepreneur who decided to leave his job at a pharmaceutical company and bravely switched careers by founding, in 2011, his business farm where he uses millions of cockroaches to process food waste. He explained to South China Morning Post (SCMP) how these formidable creatures have been consuming organic resources for millions of years. He further detailed that cockroaches are, in fact, masters when it comes to waste composting. As he put it, this is what inspired him to take advantage of his knowledge about this particular area to start his own business. Li said that he was determined to pursue his idea of this thriving nature-friendly solution to one of the most pressing problems facing humans today: food waste. We will tell you all about it if you just dare to read!
Cockroaches are the most underrated superheroes of mother nature: most of us look down upon these creatures with utter loathing and disdain, however, their mountain-devouring superpowers might become our last hope against the accumulation of food waste piles that pose a threat to both our health and our environment. These insects have astonishing survival capacities, going for up to 40 days without water and 60 days without food. Interestingly enough, Li learned these facts while watching a cartoon with his daughter featuring cockroaches, which inspired him to learn more about them and eventually make a life project out of them. In spite of his project’s promising premise, the entrepreneur struggled to make his dream a reality. However, he finally succeeded in building a 6,300 square-meter farm after obtaining six patents and submitting 36 applications to get approval for this project. The facility he founded is located in the Zhangqiu district in Jinan, of the Henan province and is run by Shandong Qiaobin Agricultural Technology Co. It is home to 300 million cockroaches, which almost equates 300 tonnes of them, eating their way through 15 tonnes of food waste each day. This means that the farm’s cockroaches are successfully getting rid of roughly a quarter of Zhangqui’s kitchen food waste.
This accomplishment changed the government’s attitude toward the industry, moving from initial disinterest towards what appears to be full endorsement, according to Li.
This, of course, is also because the government is cornered by an ever more critical situation when it comes to food waste and pollution, while it is also pressed by escalating pressure to find an immediate and more effective solution. It is to be noted that China has to handle what amounts to 60 million tonnes of kitchen waste. The method used to do that is mostly fermentation, which is as expensive as it is damaging to the environment. Other problematic methods to handle food waste include the burial of the said waste, which risks polluting groundwater as well as creating fires. The latter method could contribute to dire greenhouse emissions, as well as creating potential respiratory ailments and other health risks to people living close to landfills. Alternately, waste composting by cockroaches offers a safe nature-friendly way to get rid of the staggering amounts of kitchen waste accumulated daily.
You must be wondering: but how exactly does the composting occur? First, piles of kitchen waste are delivered to the facility each day, at dawn. The piles are, then, converted into a gelatinous mix before being moved into feeding pipes to be consumed by the roaches.
The whole production process is automated starting from the phase of breaking down food waste to small particles, all the way to the last phase of feeding to cockroaches.
The farm has been raising a species of cockroaches known as the American Cockroach, which is the largest of the species and the one with the longest life span. The founder of the facility proudly celebrates his cockroaches as a non-polluting and comparatively inexpensive alternative to solve the aggravating problem of mounting piles of food waste. He also exclaimed to SCMP that cockroaches consume any organic food source available to them. They’re not scared to consume anything soft, hard, sour, sweet, bitter or spicy. According to Li, the roaches also generate heat that helps grow vegetables and their bodies are eventually milled to feed livestock.
To address worries about a potential “leak” of cockroaches into neighboring areas -which could be a real emergency- Li assured SCMP reporters by explaining that necessary procedures will be put in place to prevent this from happening. He said that water curtains will be available at every entrance as a sealing measure. Moreover, he mentioned that he’s planning to have breeding fishes that prey on the roaches. He is planning to expand his business soon aiming for 4,000 tonnes of cockroaches and 200 tonnes of food waste processed per day in Zhangqiu and other neighboring districts. The founder appears to be interested in new ventures of expansions for the cockroach industry. The company is looking into other undiscovered uses of this insect with the possibility of making products for human consumption like diet pills and protein-rich cosmetics to make use of other beneficial characteristics of cockroaches.
The company chairwoman said, “it is like turning trash into resources”. Just think about it!
