Scientists at Australia’s University of Queensland have discovered that superworms—the larvae of Zophobas morio darkling beetles—are eager to dine on the substance, and their gut enzymes could hold the key to higher recycling rates. Chris Rinke, who led a study that was published in the journal Microbial Genomicson, told AFP previous reports had shown that tiny waxworms and mealworms (which are also beetle larvae) had a good track record when it came to eating plastic, “so we hypothesized that the much larger superworms can eat even more.”
Superworms grow up to two inches (five centimeters) and are bred as a food source for reptiles and birds, or even for humans in countries such as Thailand and Mexico. Rinke and his team fed superworms different diets over a three week period, with some given polystyrene foam, commonly known as styrofoam, some bran, and others not fed at all.
“We confirmed that superworms can survive on a sole polystyrene diet, and even gain a small amount of weight—compared to a starvation control group—which suggests that the worms can gain energy from eating polystyrene,” he said. Although the polystyrene-reared superworms completed their life cycle, becoming pupae and then fully developed adult beetles, tests revealed a loss of microbial diversity in their guts and potential pathogens.