Advertisement

If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)

ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.

ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCES TO C&EN

Pollution

Chemistry In Pictures

Chemistry in Pictures: Plastic snack

by Deirdre Lockwood and Carmen Drahl
July 10, 2018

 

Mealworms eating styrofoam.

Polystyrene—most familiarly produced as foams, including Styrofoam—has given the world cheap, lightweight insulation and containers for taking food to go. But the material biodegrades so slowly that it can sit in a landfill for hundreds of years. Scientists are working on a potential solution: Mealworms will dine on polystyrene foam when they can’t get a better meal. Gut bacteria within the worms convert up to 48% of what they eat into carbon dioxide. However, it’s not a perfect solution. The rest of the products— styrene monomers or otherwise—haven’t been identified. And the bacteria don’t completely digest their plastic meals, even after several weeks . Partially-degraded plastic can be as much of a problem as the intact stuff.

Credit: Environ. Sci. Technol.2015, DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5b02661

Do science. Take pictures. Win money. Enter our photo contest here.


Related C&EN Content:

Plastics recycling with microbes and worms is further away than people think

Mealworms Munch Polystyrene Foam

Pantry Pests Harbor Plastic-Chomping Bacteria.

Article:

This article has been sent to the following recipient:

0 /1 FREE ARTICLES LEFT THIS MONTH Remaining
Chemistry matters. Join us to get the news you need.