Scientific studies have found that barley worms can eat polystyrene plastic. Scientific research at the University of Queensland has found that enzymes in the intestines of barley worms can digest polystyrene plastic.
Polystyrene is a very widely used polymer plastic, food packaging, beverage cups and building thermal and acoustic insulation materials are made of it, so recycling polystyrene plastic has become a worldwide problem.
Barley worm is a larvae of the malt worm beetle native to Central and South America and the West Indies, and has now appeared around the world due to its protein-rich nature.
Previous studies have found that mealworms and wax worms are also able to digest plastic, while new research has found that barley worms that can grow up to 5 meters can eat more. Over a three-week period, the researchers fed three groups of barley worms different foods, one polystyrene foam, one group giving bran, and the third group not giving food. The results found that barley worms could survive in plastic foam and gained a little weight compared to the starvation control group, which proved that barley worms could get energy from polystyrene foam.
Genetic studies further confirm that enzymes in the intestines of barley worms can digest polystyrene plastic. Scientists have therefore come up with a biological way to recycle plastics: first crush polystyrene plastics in recycling plants, and then digest them through bacterial enzymes.
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