Plastic-eating caterpillar could munch waste

[Biskit]

This one is a bit of a wow moment for me. We used to keep bees and one of the perennial plagues is the wax moth which can do a huge amount of damage in a hive. Now they are talking about using the little devils to digest waste plastic...

Plastic-eating caterpillar could munch waste, scientists say - BBC News

 

[Brian G Turner]

That's such cool news.

At first I imagined the sky as full of moths - but the suggestion of a chemical/bacterial role for the industrial degredation of industrial waste sounds like the path they're trying to follow.

 

[BAYLOR]

This could solve a few environmental problems.

 

[Lumens]

I wonder if they will find a way to solve the biggest problem with plastic, which is the vast quantities of it in the oceans.

My imagination runs amok with a sea bound microbe that mutates and develops a taste for flesh instead, then finds its way into the human... Hmm, film idea.

 

[Biskit]

I wonder if they will find a way to solve the biggest problem with plastic, which is the vast quantities of it in the oceans.

I had a sudden vision of wax moth larvae wearing scuba gear.

Realistically, if there's a land organism that can digest the stuff, perhaps there's a sea organism that can do the same.

 

[Dave]

This could solve a few environmental problems.

Or, cause one. You need to read Neal Stephenson's Zodiac.

 

[Overread]

Very interesting!

Of course the article doesn't look into what the waste products are from the breakdown so there's still potential that even broken down the results could still be a hazard; however a chance to break it down chemically and in a controlled system could work.

 

[Liz Bent]

Landfills start breeding wax moths in controlled facilities to remove the plastic waste, and (1) moths grow to gargantuan size (2) moths mutate and discover they have a taste for IKEA furniture, and head over to the nearest store, infesting the place and causing chaos. Who can save the KNUBBIG table lamps and BUNSÖ chairs from chaos and destruction?

 

[TWErvin2]

Of course, they could become like termites, devouring plastics that we'd like left intact. Playground slides, parts of your vehicle, things like that.

 

[BAYLOR]

There is also the danger that they could self aware and demand citizenship and the right to vote.

 

[Pyan]

Anyone remember Doomwatch? This, from 45 years ago...

Mutant 59: The Plastic Eater

Kit Pedler, Gerry Davis
Souvenir Press, 1 Apr 2012 - Fiction - 300 pages

Based on the classic sci-fi series Doomwatch, Mutant 59 imagines one of the most terrifying tragedies that modern science could create, a chilling and topical story of what happens when scientific research goes wrong and spreads terror through London (and endangers the world). When an airplane crashes the Ministry of Transport investigates, what caused it to fall out of the sky and could it happen again? Slowly they discover that science has unleashed a genetically engineered bacteria that feeds on (and destroys) all plastic materials. No-one takes any notice of the material used to build gas pipes, electrical insulation, cars and planes until it begins to disintegrate and explode. Has science created a biological time bomb? A jet plane crashes near Heathrow, in the Atlantic a nuclear submarine disappears without trace, central London grinds to a halt. As power stations explode and London's population is evacuated.....

Mutant 59

 

[Vertigo]

The Andromeda Strain springs to mind