Enhancing Community Knowledge and Skills in Organic Waste Management through Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) Cultivation Training to Support Environmental Literacy in Harjasari Village

Abstract

Organic waste remains a major environmental issue in urban areas, including Harjasari Village, Bogor City, as indicated by high household organic waste generation and low levels of community environmental literacy. This community service activity aimed to enhance community knowledge and skills in organic waste management through the introduction of Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) maggot cultivation as an environmentally friendly and sustainable solution. A participatory approach based on community organization and the application of science and technology was employed, involving 30 participants consisting of PKK cadres, neighborhood leaders, waste bank managers, and community representatives. The activities were conducted through stages of coordination and joint action planning, organic waste management socialization, environmental literacy strengthening, and the introduction and simple demonstration of maggot cultivation, followed by interactive discussions and activity evaluation. The results showed an improvement in participants’ understanding and skills related to organic waste management. The most dominant outcomes were observed in the perceived relevance of the activity to community needs (94.86%) and the usefulness of the knowledge for daily life (93.71%), based on questionnaire evaluation. High ratings were also obtained for material clarity and delivery methods. Furthermore, the emergence of initial community initiatives to implement household organic waste segregation and to develop collective maggot cultivation indicates the potential sustainability of community-based organic waste management.