As recently reported in FoodWorldNews, Nigeria has found an innovative way to minimize solid waste problem that would address the crisis about home shortage and at the same time would benefit the environment by means of building houses made of plastic bottles.
As the urban communities develop, problem with solid waste is becoming acute. More people mean more garbage, especially in fast-growing cities where the heft of waste is created.
Mealworms are good source of protein, amino acids, potassium, and iron. They are even more notable for what these bugs are able to eat.
On the news reported by Mirror, it has recently been discovered by a group of experts from the US and China that the larvae of Tenebrio molitor, otherwise called yellow mealworms, can process even previously non-biodegradable plastics such as Styrofoam.
Researchers have leaned that the microorganism in the mealworms' guts breaks down the plastic into carbon dioxide and converts it into nutrition during the digestion process.
The findings which was published in Environmental Science and Technology, was critical and would mean glorious progress in the fight to eliminate plastic waste, experts said.
Wei-Min Wu, a senior research engineer in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford, said that the mealworms that ate the Styrofoam were as healthy as those on a normal diet after a month, and their waste in the soil appeared to be safe for plants.
"Our findings have opened a new door to solve the global plastic pollution problem," Wu said. "The plastic being produced is far greater than the natural environment can handle. The accumulation of waste plastic in soil, landfills, rivers and especially in oceans has accelerated very rapidly," Wu said.
The scientific test involved giving the 100 mealworms with 34 and 39 milligrams of Styrofoam. They found out that the worms converted about half of the Styrofoam into carbon dioxide and within a day of degradation, they are excreted as "biodegraded fragments that look similar to tiny rabbit droppings."
The United States makes about 33 million tons of plastic every year, with less than 10% being recycled, these bugs could be the answer threat in the environment created by people.
Regardless of the fact that mealworms can aid with administering waste, Wu said it's not a substitution for recycling.
"We need to be better at recycling. We shouldn't waste plastic anywhere," he said.
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