Scientist’s found that the worms had digestive compounds in them that enabled them to digest plastic. One of these was ethylene glycol which was used in plastic degradation. These caterpillars called wax worms are used in fishing and regularly lay their eggs and infest beehives wreaking havoc by eating into them like parasites.
Polythene plastic is also found in landfills and garbage dumps in huge numbers and takes almost 400 years to degrade. Consider this!! 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed by people worldwide in a year. The demand of plastic is 45 million plastic tons a year.
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The biggest disadvantage of breeding caterpillars that eat plastic is the potential damage they can cause to beehives which would be a huge dent on the ecosystem. Waxworms cause about 4 million pounds of damage in the US alone.
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Scientists are now trying to locate the actual ingredient within the digestive system of wax worms which degrades plastic. If this was possible then the bacteria could be reproduced in vats without even depending on the worms. The scientists are now being wished a lot of luck to make this pathbreaking discovery that would not only reduce plastic pollution but keep the ecosystem intact as well.
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