Foam-Eating Worms May Offer Solution To Mounting Waste

ckwu writes: Polystyrene foams—including products like Styrofoam—are rarely recycled, and the materials biodegrade so slowly that they can sit in a landfill for hundreds of years. But a pair of new studies shows that mealworms will dine on polystyrene foam when they can't get a better meal, converting almost half of what they eat into carbon dioxide. In one study, the researchers fed mealworms polystyrene foam and found that the critters converted about 48% of the carbon they ate into carbon dioxide and excreted 49% in their feces. In the second study, the researchers showed that bacteria in the mealworms' guts were responsible for breaking down the polystyrene--suggesting that engineering bacteria might be a strategy for boosting the reported biodegradation.

Comments

Recycling is for losers

[Anonymous Coward]

We live only once. Let's make the most of it.

The EPA should tighten up the limits

[AndyKron]

The EPA should tighten up the limits on meal worm CO2 emissions, and force them to put more in their feces.

Re:CO2

[idontgno]

So, your answer is "it's not landfill waste, it's carbon sequestration."

Funny. Every silver lining comes in a dark cloud.