Scientists with the help of worms will solve a global environmental problem

Scientists at Stanford University have discovered worms that can feed on plastic, including foam. The new discovery, the university staff believe, will help solve a global environmental problem: for now less than ten percent of plastic waste is recycled.

Wei-Ming (Wei-Min Wu) and his colleagues worked with mealworms (the larvae of the large mealworm). In the laboratory of the scientist, one hundred worms ate 34-39 milligrams of foam every day. About half of the plastic their body turned into carbon dioxide (exactly the same amount as when eating normal food).

The rest of the carbon worms transferred to a biodegraded mass (resembling normal feces). The foam diet did not adversely affect the health of the worms: they did not differ in any way from the control group who were fed normal food.

Now researchers are trying to understand exactly which bacteria in the stomach and intestines of the worms are involved in the plastic biodegradation, and also are going to artificially create more powerful enzymes that can break down polymers.

Wei-Ming and his colleagues have already figured out that in the gastrointestinal tract of the larvae of the southern barn moth (Plodia interpunctella) there are microorganisms capable of decomposing polyethylene.

However, the new study is more important for the protection of the environment, since foam was previously considered unsuitable for biodegradation. The future plans of scientists - the search for similar marine organisms. Plastic waste most of all threatens living organisms in the world's oceans, where they kill thousands of birds, fish and turtles.