In Ghana, a total of 2,620 tonnes of blood, intestinal contents and waste tissues from abattoirs are discharged into the environment – including watercourses and landfills – annually. Abattoir waste causes land and air pollution, releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. On the other hand, abattoir waste is a resource that can be processed using natural methods to produce maggots – a cheap protein feed that can be used as a replacement for soya and fish. 

Neat Eco-Feeds converts organic waste to high-protein feed for fish and poultry, with the help of black soldier fly larvae. The company was established to convert abattoir waste generated by Neat Meat. Currently, Neat Eco-Feeds does not use waste from Neat Meat’s abattoir alone but also waste from local breweries, granaries (sorghum, millet, maize), and porridge vendors, as well as rice bran and sawdust. Neat Eco-Feeds raises and collects the eggs of black soldier fly in an insectarium. The black soldier flies and their larvae feed on the waste collected, and the maggots can also be used as animal feed. Their feed production is zero-waste because the byproduct is used as a compost for crop farms. Customer surveys of farmers also indicate that their feed has the interesting benefit of reducing poultry mortality.

Neat Eco-Feeds has received awards from the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre, and was a winner in the 2019 UNDP Waste Recovery Innovation Challenge.

This case study has been created as part of Footprints Africa's work to build the first ever comprehensive mapping of circular economy initiatives in Africa. This will lay the foundation open-source database that can inspire local initiatives, as well as inform the global dialogue, which is largely focused on the European and American contexts. We are doing this in collaboration with the African Circular Economy Network (ACEN). ACEN's vision is to build a restorative African economy that generates well-being and prosperity inclusive of all its people through new forms of economic production and consumption which maintain and regenerate its environmental resources.

The objective is to build an open-source database featuring 500 cases by the end of 2021, with strong regional representation. These will feature in the Knowledge Hub and are also being mapped by GRID-Arendal.