Olympia Yarger, a former sheep farmer-turned-food innovator, is on a mission to change the way Australia handles food waste. She created Goterra to address the crisis-level issue of food waste. In the process, this visionary company is creating a powerful business model. Goterra’s Wetherill Park headquarters. They feed fly larvae to convert rotting fruits and vegetables into rich fertilizer, preventing tons of food waste from clogging landfills.
Every week, Yarger’s industrial facility grinds, heats and decomposes nearly 500 tonnes of spoiled produce, most collected from grocery stores and farms. Since launching in 2016, Goterra has blossomed. It now serves seven sites in four different states, a far cry from the initial small setup in Yarger’s garage. This extraordinary influx is a sign of the growing demand for creative new approaches to tackle our rapidly escalating food waste crisis.
Yarger’s method starts with a colony of five-day-old larvae in recyclable crates stuffed with food waste. In a mere twelve days, these larvae process organic material. Then, they turn it into organic, nutrient-rich fertilizer that farmers are able to adopt. Besides being an effective waste management solution, this technique provides an environmentally friendly and efficient alternative to conventional backyard or community composting.
“But these are really great insects because they consume food waste as their job, and they are a non-vector, non-pest species. So they are easy to farm without risk,” – Olympia Yarger
Food waste is a key driver of Australia’s annual emissions, making up about three percent of the national total. The economic impacts are just as mind-blowing, with food waste draining our nation of over $36.6 billion each year. Especially as more contamination continues to be included in waste streams, the management solutions found through commercialization become essential.
Yarger understands the difficulty that contamination presents to the practice of food waste management. New contaminants like metals, glass, PFAS and microplastics represent grave hazards to conventional composting and anaerobic digestion processes.
“The biggest problem for food waste treatment and management is contamination,” – Bai
Goterra has taken these challenges to the mat. In doing so, they developed a new and nimble boxed solution for food waste management that embraces best practices for source separation. Yarger’s model is designed to keep an organic material stream as clean as possible, which is critical to producing high-quality compost.
“The rules are incredibly clear. Only food waste and food scraps go into source separation — no plastics, no metals, nothing else,” – Geddes
In addition to her day-to-day operations, Yarger’s commitment to sustainability goes further. She encourages everyone to focus on reducing landfill contributions as Australia is approaching a significant landfill crisis. In fact, experts have been issuing urgent warnings that, at the current pace, the country may run out of landfill capacity before 2030—definitely before 2040.
“There is a landfill crisis and we will run out of landfill capacity by 2030,” – Geddes
Through their cutting-edge system, Goterra not only reduces their environmental footprint, but can actually make a profit doing it. These two indicators of the company’s growth trajectory show it can succeed while tackling one of the most pressing ecological issues head on.
Yarger is a daily presence at her factory, where she gets as hands-on as punching down sourdough starter. The sight of piles of discarded vegetables and stale loaves arriving at her facility is a reminder of the scale of the problem she seeks to solve.
“So separating our food waste and turning it into compost has real benefits for the environment by reducing emissions,” – Bai
As Yarger gets ready for big national expansion, she knows her vision won’t come without a fight. We know that the mere mention of maggots produces a visceral reaction in most folks, one that she needs to work around as she does public outreach.
“Maggots make people a little squeamish,” – Olympia Yarger
She remains undeterred. Today, her focus is on using innovation to drive toward a circular economy where both the planet and her business can thrive.
“So, if we can leverage technology to create a circular economy, we win at both ends of our value chain,” – Olympia Yarger
Goterra’s success story is exemplary of how innovative solutions can create economic opportunity and achieve environmental goals simultaneously. Yarger isn’t letting up on her expansion plans. She is a model of the kind of entrepreneurial spirit that is boldly taking on our society’s biggest challenges.
