What if we found a miracle solution to fight plastic pollution?
What if degradation of plastic wouldn't take ages anymore? Well, the solution could be apparently in nature itself… Indeed, Federica Bertocchini, a Spanish scientist from the Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology of Cantabria in Spain, discovered a larva with the amazing ability to eat and digest plastic! And as it is often the case with great discoveries, it was found totally by chance.
"We have found that the larva of a common insect, Galleria mellonella, is able to biodegrade one of the toughest, most resilient, and most used plastics: polyethylene”, says Federica.
Interview of Federica Bertocchini
(Kristie Lu Stout - CNN International journalist)
As a beekeeper in her spare time, Federica Bertocchini was cleaning her hives by removing wax larvae, which are responsible for damaging hives by eating wax. She put the larvae in a plastic bag, put them away, and after some time she noticed that the larvae devoured the plastic.
She quickly gave a call to her Cambridge colleagues and they started to study the phenomenon! They put a hundred larvae in a plastic bag and after 12 hours, 2% of the mass had been ingested, 2% is not huge, and at this rate, it would take 3 to 4 weeks for the larvae to eventually eat all the plastic bag. But we must not forget that in nature this process of decomposition takes about 4 to 5 additional centuries…
Other living beings and bacteria that have the ability to eat plastic have been discovered in the past, but the wax larva is the most greedy of all!
"Wax is a polymer, a sort of 'natural plastic,' and has a chemical structure not dissimilar to polyethylene," Federica says.
The goal is not to dump an army of larvae on the plastic lost at sea, but to take a closer look at their digestive system while digesting the plastic, and to harvest the enzyme in the stomach of the larvae responsible for digesting the plastic. Then, to use it on a larger scale as a new way of managing polyethylene waste.
If you are interested in knowing more about our use of plastic, how it damages the planet, and what you can do about it, here is an interesting video from a magazine that I particularly like, National Geographic:
National Geographic: Plastics 101 ➡
I'll let you now meditate on those quotes from Federica:
"We are planning to implement this finding into a viable way to get rid of plastic waste, working towards a solution to save our oceans, rivers, and all the environment from the unavoidable consequences of plastic accumulation."
"However," she adds, "we should not feel justified to dump polyethylene deliberately in our environment just because we now know how to bio-degrade it."
Hope you enjoyed,
Noémie.
Hi William!
Thank you for your comment!
Of course, it does gives me hope for the future. And I refuse to start having a negative mindset and think that nothing can be done anymore, that everything is lost and so we should just keep polluting etc. Studies have been made over the years, and even scientists do believe that things can be done to improve the situation, or even reverse the process. As inhabitants of this planet, we should all be aware of the negative impact we could have on it, and be aware of the duty we have to respect the place we are living in.
What will happen when our luck runs out?
Unfortunately, that is the question…
Great conversation, Noémie and William!
Well, that certainly gives you hope when you see all those pictures of animals who die because they eat/get caught up in plastic... It's great that we keep finding solutions for these issues, but you have to wonder what will happen when there isn't a solution to be found. Right now, humanity keeps getting "get out of jail free" cards, shirking any consequences for our actions as a species. What will happen when our luck runs out?