Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting biodegradable solution to plastic pollution
Scientists have found that a caterpillar commercially bred for fishing bait has the ability to biodegrade polyethylene: one of the toughest and most used plastics, frequently found clogging up landfill sites in the form of plastic shopping bags.
Hasnain says:
Really exciting. And also fairly brutal scientific methods.
"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."
Posted on 2017-04-24T22:45:32+0000