Abstract
Polystyrene (PS) is one of the major plastics contributing to environmental pollution with its durability and resistance to natural biodegradation. Recent research showed that mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) and superworms (Zophobas morio) are naturally able to consume PS as a carbon food source and degrade them without observable toxic effects. In this study, we explored the effects of possible food additives and use of worm frass as potential plant fertilizers. We found that small amounts of sucrose and bran increased PS consumption and that the worm frass alone could support dragon fruit cacti (Hylocereus undatus) growth, with superworm frass in particular, supporting better growth and rooting than mealworm frass and control media over a fortnight. As known fish and poultry feed, these findings present worms as a natural solution to simultaneously tackle both the global plastic problem and urban farming issue in a zero-waste sustainable bioremediation cycle.
Highlights
Given that the bulk of PS waste is food-contaminated packaging that needs to be cleaned prior to many current recycling methods, the natural plastic degradation by seems to seems be a better especially when considering that the that worms foodare sources, worms to besolution, a better solution, especially when considering the are worms food and that their frasstheir are natural to form to a zero-waste
Superworms (Zophobas morio) and mealworms (Tenebro molitor) fed on bran were purchased from fish feed stores (Clementi, Singapore)
To study the effects of food additives, mealworms and superworms were reared on PS with/without cinnamon, sucrose, and bran
Summary
Even though PS waste can be incinerated, this releases toxic fumes, causing air pollution [4,5,6], pushing for the search for better alternative PS waste management methods
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