Caterpillars could help clean up plastic waste Canada
A species of caterpillar may provide answers on how to best eradicate plastic waste, a 300-milliontonnes-a-year problem.
Researchers discovered in 2017 that the waxworm is seemingly able to eat through common types of plastic – including polyethylene, a non-biodegradable type of plastic that is the most common one used worldwide.
‘‘They are voracious feeders during these larval stages,’’ said Bryan Cassone, an associate professor of biology at Brandon University in Manitoba, Canada.
Now researchers have offered an explanation. A study published in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B found that the microorganisms in the waxworm’s gut help them consume and metabolise plastics.
Researchers at Brandon University found that waxworms – the larvae of wax moths – are able to ‘‘ingest and metabolise polyethylene at unprecedented rates’’ thanks to the micro-organisms.
‘‘The caterpillar’s gut microbiota seem to play a key role in the polyethylene biodegradation process,’’ the researchers wrote.
Researchers found a greater amount of ‘‘microbial abundance’’ in the caterpillars’ guts when they were ingesting plastic than when they ate a traditional diet of honeycomb.
In waxworms, polyethylene metabolises into a glycol, which is biodegradable.
Waxworms are not an end-all solution to plastic waste, however. They are pests for bees, naturally feeding off honeycombs and running the risk of reducing bee populations – and those of plants and crops.
It also remains unclear how the plastic breakdown process works in the waxworm, and how its health is affected.
Casson said the hope was that if researchers could harness exactly what it was in the gut bacteria that helped the caterpillars break down plastic, it could be used to design better ways to eliminate plastic from the environment.