Know The Makeup Of Plastic and Why It Is So Toxic To Soil
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Click image to zoom in and see what everyday items you can find these plastic producing chemicals within them. If you want to know more Click HERE for the image source.
Solution To Plastic Pollution.
It has recently been found that the fungus from the "Aspergillus” family called ‘Aspergillus Terreus’, can produces a gut enzyme called laipsis, which is capable of breaking down polyethylene in a matter of months instead of centuries. Find out more HERE.
‘Aspergillus Terreus’
The ‘Wax Moth’ larva also produces a gut enzyme capable of breaking down plastic. Here is a link to the Natural History Museum's article entitled, " Wax Moth Spit Can Be Used to Breakdown Plastic Waste".
Next, we have the common mealworm, that is used for fly-fishing, for example. It has been found to be able to eat plastic and even Styrofoam.
In a study published in the journal "Environmental Science & Technology" in 2015, researchers found that mealworms could biodegrade polystyrene foam by feeding on it.
Here is a link to the paper of that study -https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.5b02661
“The Styrofoam was efficiently degraded in the larval gut within a retention time of less than 24 hours. Fed with Styrofoam as the sole diet, the larvae lived as well as those fed with a normal diet (i.e., bran).”
Quote Source - https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.5b02661
Why is this important to know?
These fungi and larvae can live on particular by-products of plastic that are the predominant makeup of plastic itself, and it is important to understand that we are surrounded by nature’s organic and powerfully unassuming solutions to plastic pollution.