Polystyrene-eating beetle larvae could help us recycle plastics

Carissa Wong is a person.

The beetle Zophobas morio is capable of digesting polystyrene. The plastic could be degraded in the plant.

A previous study found that another type of beetle can eat and digest the expanded polystyrene used in packaging.

The guts of Z. morio are home to a number of polystyrene-degradingbacterial species.

The first ones to use a high-resolution method to identify potential polystyrene-degrading enzymes are us. Christian Rinke is a researcher at the University ofQueensland, Australia.

The main polystyrene-digestingbacterial species were found by Rinke and his colleagues.

They found that the microbes produced hydrolases that use water to degrade the plastic and then break it down inside the bacterium.

Three groups of superworms were fed either wheat bran, polystyrene or no food at all during a three week period. The worms chewed their way into blocks of polystyrene.

Superworms can survive on a solely polystyrene diet and gain a small amount of weight compared to a starvation control group, which suggests that the worms can gain energy from eating polystyrene. The superworms formed pupae and emerged as adults.

The polystyrene-eating superworms put on less than a quarter of the weight gained by the worms that ate Bran, suggesting that eating plastic comes at a cost to their health.

Food waste or agricultural bioproducts can be provided with the polystyrene to work with the superworms. Rinke believes that this could be a way to improve the health of the worms and to deal with the large amount of food waste in Western countries.

The researchers want to create a system that is inspired by insects.

In order to create a system that mimics the mechanical degradation of plastic by the superworm, we will focus on creating a system that mimics the degradation of other organisms.

The work is a supplement to the research on the degradation of plastic by insects. There is more work to be done before it can be applied.

It is too early to say when a bioprocess for polystyrene will be available. Ren Wei at the University of Greifswald, Germany, says it will take time to engineer the enzymes to meet the stringent requirements for bio-based recycling.

There is a journal reference to Microbial Genetics.