Wax Worms eating plastic

Did anyone see the National Geographic story where scientists found wax worms are able to eat plastic? An applicable, possible use for this information still needs plenty of research but it had me hopeful. Did you know diapers create several billions of waste each year?? I am honestly astonished.

macncheese said:

Did anyone see the National Geographic story where scientists found wax worms are able to eat plastic? An applicable, possible use for this information still needs plenty of research but it had me hopeful. Did you know diapers create several billions of waste each year?? I am honestly astonished.

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I read an article about it in the Washington Post. The only discouraging thing I read was that it takes a lot of worms to eat a small amount of plastic. Still, I think it might have a future in biodegrading plastic. It's depressing to know how much plastic we put both in landfills and worse, dump into the ocean.

It seems more likely that we will see the enzyme used to break down plastic without the worms. We also need to decide on the benefits of the degraded plastic to the environment, as well as if the enzyme poses any health risks in its own right.

ManeWulf said:

It seems more likely that we will see the enzyme used to break down plastic without the worms. We also need to decide on the benefits of the degraded plastic to the environment, as well as if the enzyme poses any health risks in its own right.

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Sigh. I am sure you are right.

I was just about to set up my caterpillar farm but I bet some filthy corporation will start dirty mass producing an enzyme to sell whether it works or not to sell to Governments and we will foot the bill in our taxes.

Or just feed those diapers through a plasma arc. It incinerates it into a small amount of ash, and creats a lot of off gassing. That gas is then captured and used to power the plasma arc, as well as the fleet of garbage trucks.

There are a few cities that have been running them for years now, and to great success I hear.