The team discovered the wax worm, a caterpillar commercially bred for fishing bait, has the ability to biodegrade polyethylene — a type of plastic used to make shopping bags — at uniquely high speeds. The degradation rate was extremely fast compared to other discoveries, like plastic-eating bacteria, the study published in Current Biology found. When the team exposed about 100 wax worms to a plastic shopping bag, holes started to appear after 40 minutes, with a reduction of 92mg after 12 hours.
Credit: ScienceNaturePage
