Scientists have made a discovery that could help pave the way to biodegradable polyethylene.
It can take hundreds of years for plastic bottles to biodegrade. And some plastics made with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) will never completely break down.
This mounting issue has put the pressure on scientists and the industry to create a high-performance but more environmentally friendly plastic. Now, researchers may have found the key: little wax worms.
The worm, which is the larval form of the wax moth, is typically used as fishing bait. In the wild, it lays its eggs in bee hives and once hatched, lives on beeswax.
Yet recently, a beekeeper and scientist at the Spanish Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology of Cantabria saw that the worms seemed to also have a big appetite for plastic. The researcher stumbled onto the discovery after tying a bunch of wax worms into a plastic bag so that she could clean a beehive. After returning to retrieve the worms, she saw that they had chewed their way out of the bag.
Follow up tests with researchers at the University of Cambridge ultimately found that the worms weren’t just eating the plastic, they were also digesting it.
As tempting as it may be to imagine spreading the worms in landfills to eat away at plastics, they wouldn’t be able to live in the zero-oxygen environment. But unlocking the mechanism inside the worm that breaks down the material could aid in the development of a molecule that could be used to make biodegradable plastics.
"If a single enzyme is responsible for this chemical process, its reproduction on a large scale using biotechnological methods should be achievable," Cambridge researcher Paolo Bombelli said in a news release. "This discovery could be an important tool for helping to get rid of the polyethylene plastic waste accumulated in landfill sites and oceans."