By: Adam Zhang
An organism named the Zophobas morio or “Superworm,” which is the larva of the Darkling Beetle, can digest Polystyrene, a type of plastic commonly known as Styrofoam. This feature of the seemingly useless worm can completely change how plastic waste is managed. Their unique ability to digest Styrofoam can reduce garbage and carbon emissions, transform landfill management, and revolutionize the idea of stopping climate change.
In a paper released on June 9 by Microbial Genomics, scientists found that Superworms can survive only on Polystyrene. Superworms’ enzymes provide an alternative to current plastic control methods: dumping plastic into an incinerator and releasing more carbon into the air.
The worms eating Styrofoam in landfills alone can reduce landfill space by 30%. Scientists are now trying to find other ways for efficient plastic waste handling. Christian Rinke, the co-author of the new paper and microbiologist at the University of Queensland in Australia, says that Mealworms can consume Styrofoam and Packing Peanuts too. However, the Mealworm and Superworm are not capable of digesting Polystyrene once they are fed Antibiotics, concluding that microbiomes are very likely to be part of this digestive ability.
Dr. Rinke and his colleagues experimented to figure out what was in the Superworms’ microbiomes. They split Superworms into three groups. One group was fed bran, a healthy staple of their diet. The second group was fed the Styrofoam, and the last group was forced to starve (the last group was problematic because the Superworms turned cannibal, and experiments were temporarily stopped until each Superworm had its own enclosure).
When the worms started to metamorphose into beetles, the group that ate bran completed the transition 93% of the time, while the starved group completed only 10% of the time. However, 67% of the Styrofoam-eating group, surprisingly, successfully transformed. This experiment showed that these Superworms could actually convert Styrofoam into energy. Thus, if Superworms were used in landfills, they could survive quite well in proper conditions.
Since more research about the precise conditions the Styrofoam-digesting enzymes require is needed, Dr. Rinke hopes that the process of recycling plastic foam can be changed in the meantime. The change in process is crucial, as current plastic foam disposal processes are not working. According to the U.N. Environment Program, half of all single-use plastic like shopping bags and Styrofoam cups become trash. This trash then slowly starts decomposing and releasing dangerous greenhouse gasses. Over 14 million tons of that plastic waste get thrown into the ocean, killing marine life.
In 2015, Stanford University researchers showed that mealworms could eat Styrofoam. The very next year, Japanese scientists discovered plastic-eating bacteria. In April, the University of Texas recently found an enzyme that could digest PET, or Polyethylene Terephthalate, a plastic used in large soda bottles and food containers.
Unfortunately, plastic-eating insects are not a perfect solution. Andrew Ellington, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, says that it is challenging to find plastic-digesting enzymes or organisms that can work in industrial conditions, which often are very hot places.
Additionally, Superworms cannot digest all types of plastic. All trash is collected, mixed, and poured into landfills, meaning that the Superworms would not be able to eat everything they can find. Alternative solutions might not work either. If there were two landfills, one for conventional trash and one for Polystyrene (for the Superworms), it would be costly.
Although it is true there are flaws with this new method of garbage regulation, with more research, scientists are hopeful this idea can likely be implemented or at least evolved.