Researchers recently discovered that mealworms have the ability to eat Styrofoam, and the waste that these produce are actually biodegradable. Mealworms were further found to be capable of eating other types of plastic.
CNN reported that there are microorganisms that live within the digestive system of mealworms that can biodegrade polyethylene, a common form of plastic. The study was conducted by Professor Jun Yang, his doctorate student Yu Yang of Beihang University, and Wei-Min Wu, an engineer from Stanford University. The new findings were published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
Mealworms are darkling beetles in their larvae stage and are very common in the United States. Aside from mealworms, waxworms can also eat and digest plastic.
During the research 100 mealworms were shown to have consumed 34 to 39 milligrams of Styrofoam every day. The experts also compared the health of the mealworms that ate Styrofoam and mealworms that ate a regular bran diet. The mealworms converted the plastic they consumed into carbon dioxide, biodegradable waste and biomass. The waste was deemed safe to use in soil for plants and crops. The scientists noted that other insects were also able to consume plastic but these did not produce biodegradable waste.
“The findings are revolutionary. This is one of the biggest breakthroughs in environmental science in the past 10 years,” Wu told CNN. According to Wu, the recent discovery can help find a solution to the plastic pollution problem that exists worldwide.
Wu added that the most important fact was that the mealworm’s gut was very efficient in degrading plastic. The bacteria is essential. When mealworms were given antibiotics and plastic, the latter was not degraded due to the absence of bacteria. Hopefully, more knowledge about the mechanisms inside the mealworm’s gut will help scientists find new ways to degrade plastic waste as well as create new methods to make plastic that can be biodegraded more efficiently.
Next, experts are aiming to study whether the bacteria inside the mealworm’s gut can also digest polypropylene, which is another type of plastic, used to make textiles, microbeads and car parts.
The recent findings at Stanford University are very promising. The United States produce an estimated 33 million tons of plastic every year, and under 10% of that is recycled. Aside from the solution that mealworms can offer, people also need to improve at recycling. Everyone around the globe should be more mindful of their plastic waste.