The fact that Americans produce copious amounts of waste each year is nothing new, nor is the fact that we have yet to come up with viable, safe, and environmentally friendly ways of handling and discarding our waste, specifically plastics. According to Rob Jordan of the Stanford News, Americans toss out roughly 33 million tons of plastic every year, which continue to pile up and cause immense damage to the surrounding ecosystems. As Jordan states in his article, “Less than 10 percent of that total gets recycled, and the remainder presents challenges ranging from water contamination to animal poisoning.”
In a time where the health and well-being of the planet are coming into constant question and debate, it is important for human beings to start contemplating new and inventive ways of dealing with humanity’s environmental footprint. Thankfully, researchers at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford are looking into a potential solution to the unyeilding waste problem: mealworms.
Yes, you did read correctly. The mealworm may help to curb the build-up of waste sites and landfills.
As stated in Jordan’s article, “100 mealworms ate between 34 and 39 milligrams of Styrofoam – about the weight of a small pill – per day… Within 24 hours, they excreted the bulk of the remaining plastic as biodegraded fragments that look similar to tiny rabbit droppings.” The consumption of Styrofoam had no negative impacts on the health of the mealworms, and their waste has appeared to be safe for use as soil and fertilizer for farming. Researchers at Stanford are hoping to create processes that can replicate the worms’ enzymes, which break down and biodegrade various polymers within plastics. If they’re successful, it may keep plastic waste from piling up by the tons and causing near irreversible damage to our planet.