Food waste startup Goterra is getting into the hotels business

Climate startup Goterra is continuing to kick goals in industry collaborations, with the country’s largest hotel, the 878-room Hyatt Regency Sydney, installing the modular food waste management system onsite.

It’s the second version of Goterra’s compact unit, which can also be found at Melbourne Airport, where fly larvae munch through more than two tonnes of food waste a week.

Founded in 2016 in Canberra by former farmer Olympia Yarger, Goterra recycles food waste using modular maggot-based robotic systems.

The black soldier fly larvae eat through the waste in high-tech, containerised units dubbed ‘Maggot Robots’, converting it into high-value, low-impact protein and fertiliser in just 12 days. They can devour vast amounts of food waste, reducing it by 95% in just 24 hours. The maggots are turned into livestock feed, including fish feed for the Tasmanian aquaculture industry.

The deal with the Hyatt Regency Sydney, which manages hundreds of tonnes of food waste annually, will form a perfect circle too, with the fly larvae sent to hotel supplier Hilltops Free Range eggs, 300km south-west of Sydney, as insect protein for its hens. 

Hyatt Regency general manager Jane Lyons said deploying the Goterra system was part of their focus on sustainability.

The Hyatt Regency Sydney

“The implementation of Goterra’s innovative food waste management system represents a significant milestone in our journey to reduce our carbon footprint,” she said.

“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.”

The City of Sydney has also begun a year-long trial with Goterra, hoping to turn up to 600 tonnes of food waste into animal feed and fertiliser.

Goterra is among the finalists in the 2024 Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards featuring in three categories, including Most Innovative Startup and Startup of the Year, and last year won the Best Sustainability Startup category.

“When you manage food waste with insects, you radically reduce the impact it has on the world,” she said.

“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.”

Yarger is currently talking to potential investors about raising a Series B.

Goterra raised $10 million in a bridging round in 2023, having previously raised $8 million in 2020, with backing from agtech VC Tenacious Ventures and Grok Ventures, the family fund of Atlassian cofounder Mike Cannon-Brookes.