Insects Can Eat Styrofoam

Posted: 10/14/2015

Trigger

Just read Notoriously Durable Styrofoam Could Be Munched by Mealworms  Microbes in the beetle larvae's guts help break down polystyrene

Here is a salient excerpt:

“Mealworms are the larvae form of the darkling beetle. In their little guts, they carry microbes that can biodegrade plastic, according to two new studies co-authored by Stanford University research engineer, Wei-Min Wu. Each worm, just a centimeter or two in length, can chow down on a few dozen milligrams of styrofoam a day, with no problems.

The worms can also handle other forms of polystyrene. ...

The worms pooped out the plastics in small biodegraded fragments in about 24 hours.”

Absolutely Stunning

For several decades we were told by scientists and environmentalists that modern plastic etc. would survive hundreds of years or that it would not decay at all.

This also puts e.g. a big question mark on such controversial activities as recycling or separation of trash or burning of trash to gain energy and reduce volume.