Crashing Waves

Crashing Waves

Sunday 4 October 2015

Munching on plastic





Everyone knows how plastic takes a very long time to decompose, one might hear stories of how turtles choke to death on floating plastic bags, or if you're slightly more well versed, you might even have heard of the infamous garbage patches in various oceans. For a long time, scientist have struggled to find ways to make plastic biodegradable, I find it slightly ironic when they discovered this solution to their problem, it was nature that once again provided it. Introducing the-plastic eating mealworms.

Introducing the mealworms
Mealworms are the larvae of a species of darkling beetle, Tenebrio molitor, they are detritivores, assisting in the cleanup of dead organic matter. They are also important in the wild and feed a variety of other organisms such as various birds, spiders and rodents. It was first discovered that several types of bottom feeders are actually able to eat polystyrene - commonly known as Styrofoam. The mealworms in particular, possess several types of bacteria in their gut, capable of breaking down these plastic compounds into carbon dioxide and biomass, excreting most of it in their feces. The process of plastic digestion in this worm is so efficient that they are able to solely survive on eating polystyrene. The polystyrene the mealworms readily ate were not treated in anyway before they were presented. it was also noted that the plastic diet did not affect the larvae's life cycle in any significant way when compared to those that were fed grains.

Mealworms eating Styrofoam
This is a huge step forward in solving the problem of solution. Not only have we found a way to degrade plastics, that are non-biodegradable, we now can dispose of them without emitting toxins into the air and further pollute the environment. This provides a sustainable solution, considering that majority of our products and waste contains high amounts of plastic. However, we have yet to explore the long term effects of this process, therefore, it is crucial that we continue to practise responsible waste management.

References

Mealwormcare.org,. (2015). Mealworm Care, Information, Facts & Pictures. Retrieved 4 October 2015, from http://mealwormcare.org/

Mealworms eating Sryrofoam. (2015). Retrieved from http://cen.acs.org/articles/93/web/2015/09/Mealworms-Munch-Polystyrene-Foam.html

Picture of mealworms. (2015). Retrieved from http://mealwormcare.org/

Yang, Y., Yang, J., Wu, W., Zhao, J., Song, Y., & Gao, L. et al. (2015). Biodegradation and Mineralization of Polystyrene by Plastic-Eating Mealworms: Part 1. Chemical and Physical Characterization and Isotopic Tests. Environmental Science & Technology, 151001073757000. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b02661

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