美国国家公共电台 NPR--How 'superworms' could help solve the trash crisis

（单词翻译）

How 'superworms' could help solve the trash crisis

Transcript¹

A bunch of small but hungry bugs³ might hold the key to saving the planet thanks to their uncanny ability to devour⁴ polystyrene — the material behind plastic foam⁵. These so-called "superworms" could one day help rid landfills of this waste and thus put a dent⁶ in one of the drivers of global warming.

Chris Rinke and other researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia are studying the larvae⁷ of the darkling beetle⁸ — or zophobas morio, its scientific name. They published a study in the journal Microbial Genomics earlier this month that found the bugs could survive on polystyrene alone, and in 66.7% of cases, transform into beetles⁹ on that relatively¹⁰ poor diet.

"They're really eating machines," Rinke said in an interview on NPR's Morning Edition. "Their main goal is to gain as much weight as they can to then become a pupa and a beetle. So, they're not very picky eaters."

The microbiomes in the guts¹¹ of the "superworms" allows them to survive on a plastic diet.

Scientific American/University of Queensland YouTube

In their natural environment, these so-called "superworms"' eat various types of decaying matter, such as rotten wood, leaves and even animal carcasses.

The secret lies in the guts of these "superworms," specifically their microbiomes. The scientists studied how the larvae break down some of the staggering plastic waste humans produce. The insects produce enzymes¹³ as they slice and dice¹⁴ through the white stuff.

"We could have gigantic worm farms with millions of worms and feed them polystyrene. But what scales way better, and is I would say also cheaper, is to focus on the enzymes," Rinke said.

The ultimate goal, he says, would be to synthetically¹⁶ reproduce these enzymes in a lab to recycle plastic by spreading a type of emulsion he dubs¹⁷ an "enzyme¹² cocktail¹⁸" over shredded¹⁹ plastic. Microbes could then help upcycle the material into bioplastics — which can take the form of very utilitarian²⁰ products like corn-based utensils²¹.

"Polystyrene waste, which is a rather low-value product, it goes through this biological degradation²² using the enzymes and then you can feed it to microbes to then produce something like bioplastic, which is actually a higher-value product. So then you would break the cycle" of waste, he explained.

University of Queensland researcher Chris Rinke began his journey into ways to reduce plastic after visiting a French Polynesian island that was littered with trash.

University of Queensland

But in order for a solution like this to exit the realm of science-fiction and enter reality, consumers will also need to step up to the plate by spending more on ecologically-friendly products, which would in turn help reduce plastic production.

Rinke added that plastic recycling rates are very low.

"I think the long-term vision is we use what nature can offer to help degrade the synthetic¹⁵ polymers we have made of petroleum²³ and then we slowly transition to natural polymers," he said.

For Rinke, it's also a personal journey and commitment that began with a sailing trip he took with his wife across the Pacific Ocean.

"We stopped at a beautiful uninhabited island in French Polynesia and we stayed there for a week and it was it was paradise. But if you look very carefully, you can see plastic there, right, and that kind of made it obvious that there's no escape," he recalled.

"You're on a tropical island somewhere thousands of miles away from any continent and there's plastic debris²⁴. So plastic is really everywhere. And that was one of the reasons why I wanted to look into that."

For now, he's holding out hope that what's inside the guts of this tiny bug² just might make our world a greener, better place.