Interesting, but I wonder what they break it down to. Is it completely broken down or do they shit nanoplastics?
At a quick glance they break it down into carbon dioxide at about a 50% consumption rate. The rest is excreted as biomass and degraded fragments (which I gather means shorter polymer chains and oxidation). Sounds really good if it’s true.
I agree this is probably overall a good thing, but I worry if this bacteria thrives due to the amount of plastic around what that would mean for the amount of CO2 produced.
It's funny, for years I've been downvoted or thought to be joking when I point out that putting non-biodegradable plastic into landfills is carbon sequestration. I seriously think it's a good idea, though. If people are concerned about carbon in the atmosphere then that's a good way to get it out for the long term.
That only works if the carbon in the plastic originally came from the atmosphere, but we use oil to make plastics. So increased demand for plastic = increased demand for oil, and that oil was already sequestered to begin with.
Yeah the oil was carbon sequestration we are just releasing it
...bacteria?
They turn into 3-D printers.
Wow just realised i’m technically a 3D printer. Aaand that’s enough internet for today.
And how much of the plastic remains in the food chain when animals eat the worms? This likely isn’t the good news that it appears to be on the surface. I know an old lady who swallowed a fly….
Instead of releasing a huge number of these insects into trash sites (which isn’t practical)
Try it anyway!
Hmmm...... How to create an invasive species in 3...2....1...
Finally, a clothes moth that can eat polyester
They're mealworms of a species already found on numerous continents, I think it'll be fine.
Goodbye built human world !
Back to building with stone, metal, and wood.
About time!
The kind of funny thing is that if this happened for real, the next big plastic product would just be pesticide impregnated plastics. And then we’d have pesticide microplastics everywhere!
This is one of those stories that pops up every year and nothing is ever done with it.
Yep. This.
Same thing with reddit "hey there's a cure for cancer and these ragtag students discovered this which will change the world!"
5 years later
"............"
I have had it with these motherfcking mealworm larvae that are capable of consuming polystyrene on this motherfcking plane!
We're all plastic eating insects.
Wow. A neat insect for sure.
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