Abstract
The negative impact of the modern-day lifestyle on the environment was aggravated during the COVID-19 pandemic through the increased use of single-use plastics from food take-aways to medical supplies. Similarly, the closure of food outlets and disrupted supply chains have also resulted in significant food wastage. As the pandemic rages on, the aggravation of increased waste becomes an increasingly urgent problem that threatens the biodiversity, ecosystems, and human health worldwide through pollution. While there are existing methods to deal with organic and plastic waste, many of the solutions cause additional problems. Increasingly proposed as a natural solution to man-made problems, there are insect solutions for dealing with the artificial and organic waste products and moving towards a circular economy, making the use of natural insect solutions commercially sustainable. This review discusses the findings on how some of these insects, particularly Hermetia illucens, Tenebrio molitor, and Zophobas morio, can play an increasingly important role in food and plastics, with a focus on the latter.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic has indirectly disrupted food services, logistics, and daily operations to augment the food delivery market, which is expected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 8.2% from 2020 to 2024 globally [1]
An added challenge to the application of worms in plastic waste treatment is the use of different additives, which can include colouring compounds in different plastic applications, even those centred around PS and PE
It is unclear how these possible additives for various applications could break down or accumulate in the insects, making them unsuitable for entering the food chain. The variety of these compounds is too diverse for discussion in this review, but more in-depth study on what they are, which products they are found in, how they accumulate, and their long-term effects on the worms and food chain must be conducted before full implementation to diverse plastic waste
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has indirectly disrupted food services, logistics, and daily operations to augment the food delivery market, which is expected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 8.2% from 2020 to 2024 globally [1]. The problem is compounded by the greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide [8], methane, which is produced during food waste decomposition and can occur on food-contaminated plastic materials. Amid these increasing problems with incomplete solutions, nature provides solutions to both organic and artificial plastic wastes in the form of insects, which would function in a possible zero-waste circular economy. Cockroaches are protein diet food sources in some communities It is with a better understanding in entomology that other solutions for both food and plastic waste in black soldier flies (Hermetia illucens), superworms (Zophobas morio), and mealworms ( the yellow Tenebrio molitor) have emerged. The mouthless adult fly emerges about 14 days later purely for mating and laying eggs
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