Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution
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Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution
#2What exactly comes out the other end? Small pieces of plastic?
Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution
#3What exactly comes out the other end? Small pieces of plastic?
Reading the article it says that it turns the plastic into Ethelene glycol.
Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution
#4What exactly comes out the other end? Small pieces of plastic?
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Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution
#5What exactly comes out the other end? Small pieces of plastic?
"The analysis showed the worms transformed the polyethylene into ethylene glycol, representing un-bonded 'monomer' molecules."
Moderately toxic, but breaks down in the air in about 10 days. Used in antifreeze.
Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution
#6What exactly comes out the other end? Small pieces of plastic?
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Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution
#7Three orders of magnitude greater than previously known plastic eating bacteria.
Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution
#8Would be good to have plastic waste broken down, but be careful not to take down our whole civilization with it. Almost everything today is made out of plastic...
Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution
#9"To confirm it wasn't just the chewing mechanism of the caterpillars degrading the plastic, the team mashed up some of the worms and smeared them on polyethylene bags, with similar results."
A disturbing but effective way to test the hypothesis.
Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution
#10What exactly comes out the other end? Small pieces of plastic?
"The analysis showed the worms transformed the polyethylene into ethylene glycol, representing un-bonded 'monomer' molecules." Moderately toxic, but breaks down in the air in about 10 days. Used in antifreeze. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylene_glycol
It's a precursor of polyester. Perhaps polyethilene can be recycled into polyester?