Waxworms are not an end-all solution to plastic waste, however. In waxworms, polyethylene metabolizes into a glycol, which is biodegradable. Researchers found a greater amount of "microbial abundance" in the caterpillars' guts when they were ingesting plastic than when they ate a traditional diet of honeycomb. "The caterpillar's gut microbiota seem to play a key role in the polyethylene biodegradation process," the researchers wrote. Researchers at Brandon University in Manitoba, Canada, found that waxworms are able to "ingest and metabolize polyethylene at unprecedented rates" thanks to the microorganisms in their intestines.
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