PE film-eating waxworms

Polyethylene (PE) has been considered nonbiodegradable for decades. Although the biodegradation of PE by bacterial cultures has been occasionally described, valid evidence of PE biodegradation has remained limited in the literature. Researchers at Beihang University in China found that waxworms were capable of chewing and eating PE films. Two bacterial strains capable of degrading PE were isolated from this worm’s gut and applied to PE films.
The results demonstrated the presence of PE-degrading bacteria in the guts of waxworms and provided promising evidence for the biodegradation of PE in the environment. An article about the research is published in Environmental Science & Technology.
Click here for an abstract of the article.

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