Scientists discovered plastic-eating worms that could reduce pollution
A chance discovery made by a scientist and amateur beekeeper has led to a potentially game-changing discovery in the biodegrading of polyethylene, a plastic used in shopping bags which clog up landfill sites and pollute our oceans.
Federica Bertocchini, from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), removed a batch of wax worms, the larvae of the common insect Galleria mellonella (greater wax moth) from honeycombs in her hives. Such larvae are a scourge of beehives across Europe, laying their eggs which hatch and grow on beeswax.
Bertocchini placed the worms in a typical plastic shopping bag. Soon she discovered the bag riddled with holes.
Alongside University of Cambridge biochemists colleagues Paolo Bombelli and Christopher Howe, Bertocchini then conducted a timed experiment in which 100 worms were exposed to a plastic supermarket bag.
Within 40 minutes holes began to appear, and after 12 hours a reduction in plastic mass of 92 milligrams from the bag had appeared.
Further studies will be needed to discriminate the mechanical from the chemical degradation, but the rate was overall faster than that seen in an experiment reported last year by scientists at Kyoto University who used a species of bacteria to degrade polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a plastic used in water bottles.
Polyethylene is one of the most commonly used plastics globally. It accounts for around 40 percent of total demand for plastic products across Europe, a continent where up to 38 percent of plastic is discarded in landfills where it is thought it will take up to 400 years to degrade.
Produced by David Ibekwe.
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