Mealworms can help save the planet. It turns out the insects are able to naturally biodegrade Styrofoam that would have otherwise sit in a landfill for more than a million years.
Researchers from Beijing and California have found that tackling the ever growing problem of plastic pollution may be as easy as feeding worms.
"Our study found that actually mealworms eat Styrofoam and they digest Styrofoam in their gut," said co-author of the study Wei-Min Wu, an environmental engineer at Stanford University.
The researchers found that mealworms can safely eat Styrofoam and other types of plastic and while deriving energy from the process. One experiment compared a group of worms that ate foam to a group that ate bran and found no difference in their overall health.
The other surprising discovery was how fast the worms were able to break down materials that up until now were thought impossible to biodegrade.
"The process was very fast. In less than 24 hours it became CO2," added Wu.
The researchers found that an enzyme secreted by the microbes in the worms gut act like a sledgehammer breaking down a wall.
"I think the secreted enzymes are really interesting those are the tools that actually break the wall down into little pieces," said Environmental Engineering Professor Craig Criddle of Stanford University.
The researchers now plan to study these worms further to better understand how they work, as well as search for other insects that may have plastic-eating superpowers.
The hope is to begin tackling the mounting problem of plastic pollution before it's too late.
"It's an issue because we are running out of landfill space for one thing, especially in dense urban environments, also the clutter that results, particularly in the ocean," added Criddle.
In the United States alone, 33 million tons of plastic is thrown away every year. Hopefully soon, scientists, aided by the mighty mealworm, may start coming up with ways to deal with it.