Caterpillars to digest by eating plastics are discovered

ByEuropean Parliament

Plastic which is raw material such as PET bottle which comes out as trash and supermarket bag is difficult to decompose, but as a result of the new investigation, the content that "caterpillar eats plastics and digests" is reported. It is seen as possibly changing the way of garbage disposal in the future.

Polyethylene bio-degradation by caterpillars of the wax moth Galleria mellonella: Current Biology
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(17)30231-2

Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting biodegradable solution to plastic pollution
https://phys.org/news/2017-04-caterpillar-bags-biodegradable-solution-plastic.html

The Very Hungry Plastic-Eating Caterpillar - The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/04/the-very-hungry-plastic-eating-caterpillar/524097/

Federica Bertocchini, who kept a bee at the research institution "IBBTEC" in Spain, found a caterpillar being gathered in the hive's nest one day. Since caterpillar will eat beeswax, which is a raw material for the bee's nest, Bertocchini was cleaning the bee's nest while putting the caterpillar in a plastic shopping bag. And when I looked at the shopping bag, I noticed that there was a hole that was not until a while ago. This is the reason I discovered that "Caterpillars eat plastics" accidentally.

Plastics used in food packages and shopping bags are problematic because they are difficult to decompose due to bacteria and the like because the chain of the molecules is long and the carbon and carbon bonds are strong, so it is easy to cause environmental pollution It is said. In the past, bacteria and the like which decompose polyethylene terephthalate etc. which is the raw material of PET bottle have been found and reported, but it was neck to take several weeks to several months for these microorganisms to decompose plastics. However, Bertocchini confirmed the larvae of Hakinosuzuriga confirmed that the speed of eating plastics was fast, it took about 40 minutes to make a hole in the shopping bag, and after a few hours the shopping bags were tumbling.

Bertocchini originally studied the fetus of animals and insects are not research fields, but Bertocchini who was interested in the phenomenon that the caterpillar eats plastics really investigates whether caterpillar is digesting plastics Start. Combined with a polyethylene with a caterpillar in a smoothie state, it seems that 13% of the plastic disappeared after half a day.


After that, Bertocchini cooperated with Biochemist Cambridge biochemist Paolo Bombelli and Christopher Howe in order to ascertain the digestion of the caterpillar, and analyzed chemical substances that react with the caterpillar, finally, some of the plastics Of the substance was converted to ethylene glycol. By this, it was officially confirmed that 'Caterpillar is digesting plastics'.

Why do caterpillars digest plastics? Regarding the reason, Bertocchini believes that the beeswax that the caterpillar can eat contains the same as the carbon-carbon association contained in the plastic. As the caterpillar evolved to digest beeswax, plastics can be digested in the same way.

However, Mr. Ramani Narayan of Michigan State University sees that even if the paste of caterpillar turns plastic into ethylene glycol, its impact is small. Also, even if you eat plums with plastic caterpillars to treat plastic garbage, since caterpillar will eventually discharge plastic debris, "The method of decomposing plastics by living things is magical It is not a method like this. " There is also an opinion that "There is a long way to go between experiments and building a system that can actually benefit from benefits", as it is impossible for live caterpillars to live at a waste disposal facility that is in an oxygen-free state .

However, Bertocchini also does not consider incorporating the caterpillar itself in the processing of plastics, it seems that it is important to identify the enzyme that digests polyethylene. Since there is no best way to deal with accumulated plastic at the time of article creation, Jennifer DeBruyn of the University of Tennessee and elsewhere, for example, "Is the caterpillar itself digested or bacteria in the body of the caterpillar digested It is where I want to know if it is. "