Plastic Eating Worms Eat Non-Biodegradables
Engineering360 News Desk | October 01, 2015Research studies by engineers at Stanford University indicate that mealworms, or the larvae of the beetle darkling, can live on a diet of Styrofoam and other polystyrenes. Microorganisms in the worms’ digestive system biodegrade the plastic consumed.
The research, published in the Environmental Science and Technology Journal, indicates that mealworms may be a solution to global plastic pollution. In the U.S., 2.5 billion plastic foam cups and 22 million tons of plastic are discarded annually—with less than 10% recycled, researchers say.
Led by Wei-Min Wu, co-author of the research, the study involved 100 mealworms eating 34-39 milligrams of Styrofoam daily. The worms excreted the waste as biodegraded pieces within 24 hours, the waste may be safe as soil for crops.
The researchers are partnering with scientists from Beihang University in Beijing, China to see if the microorganisms inherent in mealworms and other insects could biodegrade other plastics. The researchers hope to look for a marine equivalent given the amount of plastic found in bodies of water.
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