Creepy Crawlies to the Eco-Rescue

Plastic has creeped its way into our everyday lives, and is found everywhere, creating a very real ecological problem. Luckily, a new study has found that a certain worm might be able to help out in the simplest way possible: by eating the plastic.

A research team at the Brandon University in Manitoba, Canada, has discovered that the larvae of the greater wax moth has the unique ability to eat and break down polyethylene – the same sort of plastic used in shopping bags and other packing materials – which could provide a turning point in the war on plastic waste.

The species of caterpillar can digest plastic, thanks to its gut bacteria – the microbes that live inside its digestive tract. The team found that the caterpillars that were fed plastic over a year not only survived, but there was “increased microbial abundance”, meaning their gut bacteria increased.

This discovery could have significant benefits if the same process could be adapted to the development of technologies that can break down plastics permanently.

Study author and biologist, Christophe LeMoine, said: “Nature is providing us with a great starting point to model how to effectively biodegrade plastic.”