
Plastic-eating caterpillars: An escape from a shopping bag triggers an idea - rahulshiv
https://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21721328-escape-shopping-bag-triggers-idea-plastic-eating-caterpillars-could?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ed/
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userbinator
This actually sounds a bit scary, and I hope doesn't become reality, since it
might turn out to be like termites --- given how much we rely on plastics, the
damage caused by an inadvertent release or application could be severe.

Also, polyethylene is one of the simplest plastics and can be recycled quite
effectively; so the real problem is getting people to reuse and recycle, and
not disposal. Much of it comes from petroleum sources so a nontrivial amount
of energy was already spent in its production too.

~~~
legulere
Reduce comes before reuse and recycle. There are several countries with 0
landfill rates and high recycling rates in Europe, but that doesn’t solve the
problem. We actually need to re-evaluate our use of plastic.

~~~
smhost
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYDQcBQUDpw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYDQcBQUDpw)

For some ideas about how to cut waste. A different approach, with emphasis on
recycling:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eym10GGidQU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eym10GGidQU)

As much as the internet likes to make fun of people like this, I honestly
don't see anything wrong with what they're doing. And they look happy and
healthy.

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andreasley
This was in April 2017. A more recent report questions the previous
publication:

"Although the biochemical decomposition has not yet been disproven, the
sensational report of plastic eating caterpillars at least appears highly
doubtful in the light of these results." [1]

[1]
[https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170915144156.h...](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170915144156.htm)

~~~
vorotato
what about this? "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.

Read more at: [https://phys.org/news/2017-04-caterpillar-bags-
biodegradable...](https://phys.org/news/2017-04-caterpillar-bags-
biodegradable-solution-plastic.html#jCp")

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YokoZar
The waxworms in the article eat polyethylene. Common meal worms are capable of
eating another plastic, polystyrene -- you can observe this yourself by just
grabbing some from a pet store and putting them in a styrofoam container for a
few days.

In the case of the mealworms, the digestion is coming from gut bacteria, but
it remains unclear how waxworms are able to do it with polyethylene.

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voiper1
>Another question is the composition of their faeces. If these turn out to be
toxic, then there will be little point in pursuing the matter.

In other words, we don't even know if they _digest_ the plastic, or just eat
it. If they don't digest it, there's no utility....

~~~
astura
No, they digest them. Here's another article with more information.

[https://phys.org/news/2017-04-caterpillar-bags-
biodegradable...](https://phys.org/news/2017-04-caterpillar-bags-
biodegradable-solution-plastic.html)

>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

~~~
setr
Thats one hell of a test..

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Scientist 1: it may be an enzyme in the caterpillars, how we can we test for
that

Scientist 2: well how about we anaestetise the caterpillar and use a
microfilament to extract the gut contents, then we can ...

Scientist 1: <splat>

~~~
logfromblammo
I'd just put them in the centrifuge that they use to liquefy mice.

~~~
codeisawesome
Oh God. There is a centrifuge to liquify mice?!

~~~
logfromblammo
Yep. The animals are euthanized with CO2, placed in the device, and reduced to
liquid in seconds. Obviously, this is not done when specific organs need to
remain intact, but if you can do your measurements from homogenized whole
animal, it saves a lot of time on rapid perfusion and dissection.

Specialty devices exist, but a standard high-speed desktop centrifuge can also
be used, as a mouse will generally fit into a 50 mL centrifuge tube.

Generally best not to think about it too much if you like animals, but also
like biochemical sciences. But if you're after a specific enzyme that would
not be destroyed by rupture of the cell wall, whole-animal sacrifice by
centrifuge is the cheap and easy way to get at it.

~~~
codeisawesome
I like the humorous way in which you put it, but oh, can’t help but imagine
some higher creature talking about experimenting on us in a similar way
/shudder

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Cthulhu_
Looks like instead of worms, they should focus on the enzymes that can break
down the plastics. Apply gratuitously during waste processing and add them to
landfills.

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doitLP
Potential downsides to consider:

1\. What happens when we remove the "negative" side of using plastic products?
Why use less if the worms can eat it all? I'm guessing production and
consumption of single use polyethylene products will increase.

2\. What if the worms escape control, (like the possums in New Zealand, the
farmed salmon in the pacific etc etc) then what sort of new disaster do we
have on our hands?

~~~
dx034
To your first point, I don't think we currently reduce plastic at all. There
are some people who want to reuse and switch to alternatives but in general,
plastic usage is not limited by environmental factors currently. So I doubt
we'd use more plastics if we can safely recycle it all.

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merraksh
See also
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14185891](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14185891)

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partycoder
There is also nylonase, or the nylon eating bacteria

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nylon-
eating_bacteria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nylon-eating_bacteria)

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Coincoin
>Article title: Plastic-eating caterpillars could save the planet

Wait, since when is plastic the main menace to our planet?

>Another question is the composition of their faeces.

Yeah, it would suck if it produced even more CO2 and methane. Even if we can
catch the methane to make energy, that's more CO2 that would have been
otherwise sequestered.

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astura
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14185891](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14185891)

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sillysaurus3
Non-paywalled article: [http://archive.is/0Ja6H](http://archive.is/0Ja6H)

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_pmf_
What could possibly go wrong?

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aaron695
This is pointless.

Once you have collected it bury it, burn it or recycle.

If anything this will just release CO2? or Methane?

~~~
dx034
Harvesting methane in a controlled environment could be used to generate
electricity. And even if it's pure CO2 it would be cleaner than current
methods.

