25-Apr-17 Scientists have discovered that the larvae of the greater wax moth appear to enjoy munching on plastics. Dr Federica Bertocchini, from the Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology of Cantabria. This moth that prefers plastic to pullovers could help solve the problem of discarded shopping bags and packaging, researchers believe. The larvae of the greater wax moth normally thrive on beeswax, making them a hated enemy of bee keepers across Europe. But a chance discovery has shown that they will also happily munch on plastic- placing them in a plastic bag quickly leave it riddled with holes.
Understanding how the larvae eat plastic could provide a biotechnological method of disposing of bags and packaging, a major source of land and sea pollution, say scientists. Dr Paolo Bombelli, a member of the international team from Cambridge University, said: “If a single enzyme is responsible for this chemical process, its reproduction on a large scale using biotechnological methods should be achievable. This discovery could be an important tool for helping to get rid of the polyethylene plastic waste accumulated in landfill sites and oceans. The caterpillars, known as “wax worms”, are commercially bred for fishing bait and in the wild live as parasites in bee colonies.
Dr Bertocchini - a member of the research team from Spain, who happens to keeps bees, spotted their penchant for plastic while removing the pests from her hives. In a follow-up test conducted in Cambridge, 100 wax worms were let loose on a plastic bag from the British supermarket. Holes began to appear after just 40 minutes, and over a period of 12 hours 92mg of plastic was consumed. The caterpillars worked much faster than bacteria, which in previous experiments took a day to biodegrade just 0.13mg of plastic.
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