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Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution

phys.org

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Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution

#151

Post by mark-r »

framebit wrote: post #124
tuna-piano wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I, for one, have never understood the problem with landfills. There's tons of unused space left, and landfills take up a tiny fraction of that. Who cares if we make a trash hill somewhere and styrofoam sits there for a million years?

Mismanaged landfills can have some unpleasant effects on the surrounding environment, like smell in the air or seeping pollutants into groundwater.

Speaking of, don't they use plastic liners to keep the pollutants out of the groundwater? Filling landfills with a chemical to break down plastic could backfire badly.

Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution

#152

Post by vanderZwan »

ismail wrote: post #59
Clanan wrote: post #16

"A chance discovery occurred when one of the scientific team, Federica Bertocchini, an amateur beekeeper, was removing the parasitic pests from the honeycombs in her hives. The worms were temporarily kept in a typical plastic shopping bag that became riddled with holes." What a great accident.

Interesting that a study was reported on the exact same site, but in 2014. https://m.phys.org/news/2014-12-gut-bacteria-worm-degrade-pl...

Could be the same bacteria mentioned in the Caterpillar article here:

> Scientists say that the degradation rate is extremely fast compared to other recent discoveries, such as bacteria reported last year to biodegrade some plastics at a rate of just 0.13mg a day.

Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution

#153

Post by omginternets »

notpresident wrote: post #126
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I try not to kill flies, no. The only exception is for multiple flies that won't go away. Ditto for ants. It's a bit strange that violence toward insects is fine, but violence towards dogs is not. Ever killed a dog because it annoyed you? That said, doing it for science at least has a justification.

Tangentially related and I expect a 50% chance to be punished for this but it is really interesting and I think it deserves some thought: It always surprises me how a number of HNers worries about killing insects, even for science - all while supporting the killing of unborn children.

>unborn children

The Orwellianness of this turn-of-phrase never ceases to amaze.

Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution

#154

Post by weberc2 »

castis wrote: post #30
Asooka wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've been building things out of wood for a long time and wood is a food source to plenty of organisms. If that was going to make civilization collapse, it wouldn't have risen in the first place.

Yes but wood has a pre-existing cycle already in place. Plastic hasn't existed for as long as wood has. If a new microbe or whatever evolves to feed on plastic and becomes widespread, it would certainly be a new experience for us.

I think material science has advanced enough that in 99% of cases, we could find some other suitable replacement (e.g., glass, aluminum, cloth, leather), albeit at a higher cost (although perhaps lower when you account for environmental impact). I'm guessing the remaining 1% of cases are in medicine or some other advanced science.

Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution

#155

Post by sangnoir »

notpresident wrote: post #126
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I try not to kill flies, no. The only exception is for multiple flies that won't go away. Ditto for ants. It's a bit strange that violence toward insects is fine, but violence towards dogs is not. Ever killed a dog because it annoyed you? That said, doing it for science at least has a justification.

Tangentially related and I expect a 50% chance to be punished for this but it is really interesting and I think it deserves some thought: It always surprises me how a number of HNers worries about killing insects, even for science - all while supporting the killing of unborn children.

At the risk of sounding disgustingly crass even though I'm being literal: I'm sure those pro-insect HNers have nuanced views towards the elimination of parasitic insects.

Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution

#156

Post by Glyptodon »

fenwick67 wrote: post #44

I am skeptical that any sort of bacteria/insect based plastic decomposition project will address the problems with plastic waste. The biggest problem with plastic is not with the products that make it into the landfill, where bacteria could be used. The problem is with what happens when they don't make it into a landfill, and they end up as basically permanent pollutants in the water.

Occasionally wonder if the "solution" could be worse than the disease. If plastic-devouring organisms became widespread would it make plastic unsuitable for widespread use because things like car-bumpers and PVC pipe would constantly be biodegrading?

Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution

#158

Post by acomjean »

okreallywtf wrote: post #145
tuna-piano wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I, for one, have never understood the problem with landfills. There's tons of unused space left, and landfills take up a tiny fraction of that. Who cares if we make a trash hill somewhere and styrofoam sits there for a million years?

Part of the problem is it is not just the expected trash that is buried there. I've seen people taking plenty of old electronics, batteries and all kinds of other toxic stuff and nobody is really checking a lot of what makes it in there (especially when you haul in a trailer load of demo stuff and just dump it off).

Landfills are basically now the worlds largest plastic bags. Basically a least a foot of clay at the bottom (which liquids flow slowing through), then sheets of HDPE plastic welded together to make a (hopefully) watertight surface. Usually they have pipes to collect whatever leaches through the trash. In NY being not trusting sorts... they double line their landfills with 2 layers of liner.

Then when its filled you put a layer of plastic and soil on the top to stop water from getting in.

Its not perfect, but it seems to be ok. Nothing rots in there since there is hardly any moisture and the off gassing is who knows what (sometimes they burn it, so it has some methane).

Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution

#159

Post by 21 »

Falling3 wrote: post #133
notpresident wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangentially related and I expect a 50% chance to be punished for this but it is really interesting and I think it deserves some thought: It always surprises me how a number of HNers worries about killing insects, even for science - all while supporting the killing of unborn children.

This is a ridiculous oversimplification of the issues and a guaranteed way of hijacking this for a completely unproductive argument.

GP does have a point. A 4 month old or whatever is the latest you can perform an abortion is certainly bigger than a fly, or even many mammals.

I am pro-choice by the way.

Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution

#160

Post by killin_dan »

orthecreedence wrote: post #135
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I try not to kill flies, no. The only exception is for multiple flies that won't go away. Ditto for ants. It's a bit strange that violence toward insects is fine, but violence towards dogs is not. Ever killed a dog because it annoyed you? That said, doing it for science at least has a justification.

Every time I advocate for animal rights on this forum, it's met with downvotes and people huffing and puffing about the benefit to humanity and science. Your argument is sound...flies are animals. They have exoskeletons, six legs, and compound eyes but they are animals nonetheless. However, our cultural "worth" of flies is much lower than that of dogs, so even people who supposedly value logic above all else would ra…

Hey whatup cl-async guy!

I'd liked to add that there are aspects of mutualism underlying how much we value dogs. We used to hunt alongside dogs, there exists a special bond between man and dog that does not exist between any other species, to my knowledge. They know our emotions, our smells, our noises, our physiological needs, they are even aware of fragility of our bodies compared to other animals.

Dogs are pretty amazing

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