2021 - "Son, please take out the trash." 2030 - "Son, go feed the worms."
@ДимитърИванов-д3ш3 жыл бұрын
you didn't get it. their use is in recycling. hypothetically, if we feed all our plastic to worms, it is almost the same as burning it.
@Skye_ranran3 жыл бұрын
@@ДимитърИванов-д3ш but without the fire and the air polutions
@sentanno41783 жыл бұрын
@@ДимитърИванов-д3ш burning causes air pollution. feeding the worms to plastic is better as it causes no harm
@ДимитърИванов-д3ш3 жыл бұрын
@@sentanno4178 put that into perspective. if you feed millions of tons of plastic, to worms, the carbon from this plastic goes to the system. when we eat,, we exale CO2. so maybe not as bad as burning it, but not too far off.
@parrot9983 жыл бұрын
@@ДимитърИванов-д3ш I think you underestimate the possibilities of this... If they break it down into harmless chemicals, mealworms are edible, and are eaten in parts of the world... I've tried them, and though they aren't as absolutely delicious as, for example, grasshoppers, I certainly wouldn't mind them on my plate on occasion. It could change the world to have supplemental meats that actually clean the environment... Of course this is dependant on what the enzymes break the plastics down into as to whether that would work, but there are so many potential uses for this if you have a creative mind, so don't discount it yet.
@MrNeckpunch3 жыл бұрын
Interesting to note that when trees first evolved, there was nothing capable of breaking them down when they died. It took millenia before bacteria evolved to break down the lignin that makes up the wood in trees.
@yaboyyoob75313 жыл бұрын
Really
@SingularitySurvivor3 жыл бұрын
That's Cool!! If so, then there would be a bacteria other than this worm to digest anything..
@MrNeckpunch3 жыл бұрын
@@SingularitySurvivor give it a few million years and I'm sure there will be.
@ekosubandie20943 жыл бұрын
Some bacteria species has already tried to exploit the plastic eating niche in relatively recent time, so it's safe to say that we might be getting proper plastic decomposer bacteria in less than few hundreds or thousands years from now
@mwanikimwaniki68013 жыл бұрын
@@yaboyyoob7531 Yep. Trees never used to decompose.
@Alex41241243 жыл бұрын
Does anyone know what affects the plastic eating worms would have on the creatures that eat them if they ingest plastic ? Super curious if it’s been studied and what the results are.
@garethscott88883 жыл бұрын
Surely they'll become microplastics that we hear so much about, if not then if a worm can break down plastic surely stomach acid with pH of 2 should break it down
@panda-crux.1653 жыл бұрын
The only answer we can get is EXPIREMENT!!! We should sacrifice some worms to get the answer😅
@akatosh83273 жыл бұрын
Depends on if the worm has digested the plastic completely or not if so the worm would just produce ATP, CO2 and other natural waste if not completely digested I would reckon microplastics, polymer variants.
@cjstubejackofalltrade15513 жыл бұрын
I was thinking the same.
@astronxmial4423 жыл бұрын
There might be accumulation of microplastics in the predators of the mealworms
@GABE_is_here3 жыл бұрын
*_"They have adapted to live with plastic. We should do the same"_* aight it's time to eat plastic 🤩
@jmad3183 жыл бұрын
Plot twist, you probably already do...
@GABE_is_here3 жыл бұрын
@@jmad318 makes sense since micro plastics do get in our food
@jeremycrisp44883 жыл бұрын
If I remember correctly, margarine is just one or two processes away from being plastic.
@mickhealy5723 жыл бұрын
if you knew how much microplastics you, me, all of us already eat, drink and breathe in every week you would be astounded, does a credit card in weight per week sound astounding? does to me and if you knew what was in it you would be terrified. we will not adapt, just die of various cancers, blood disorders and brain disease and tumours..
@SharikMik3 жыл бұрын
Can our stomach acids dissolve plastic into nothing
@duskyjackal16993 жыл бұрын
This is really interesting. In the pet trade, mealworms often are used as feeder insects to all manner of exotic pets. I noticed one day, there was a hole in the polystyrene at the bottom of my aquarium. When i looked inside, i found a mealworm hat bored a hole into the polystyrene, and made a went into its Pupa phase. Years later, it clicked. Ooooooh! They can eat plastic!
@ChristianCaurla3 жыл бұрын
So funny man! That's exactly how scientist made the same discovery. Congrats!
@boejudden90113 жыл бұрын
sprinkle some parmesan cheese on it and my wife will eat it all in 30 minutes flat
@natospysanchez89383 жыл бұрын
I mean some bacteria also eats plastics
@josephstalin3253 жыл бұрын
I use them for fishing bait lol
@bloggerblogg58783 жыл бұрын
I think they other insects can do that, there some kind of a bug live in the beans and they often didn't see them, because they don't come out, but once they do they can bite out themselves from plastic bags, this period in their life they look like small flies, it happened to us. One they we see so many small bugs/flies and we didn't know when they come from and we realized they came from the beans, they bite holes in the beans, then if you keep it in plastic bag they bite holes on that too. But I think if you store your beans, in a paper or cotton bag, it won't happen and less likely these bugs come out from beans. Don't panic, there have bugs everywhere and you eat it without know it.
@jc90603 жыл бұрын
But do we have to accept that we have to live with non biodegradable plastics at all? Plant based plastic and mushroom based materials that decomposes like other natural things already exist. And I'm sure there's much more like that out there too...plus, endless economic growth is just stupid
@crums0nMyJ4cket3 жыл бұрын
@Salvatore Guidone yea, and why aren't we using more glass? Because companies use cheaper plastic for packaging. Governments need to dip toward more authoritarian thinking to deal with this. Multibillion dollar companies squeezing every penny by using the cheapest materials, all-the-while paying their staff a pittance. The government needs to hit them with taxes so brutal it makes their eyes water - $1/plastic bottle.
@Rodiboy603 жыл бұрын
So what about the plastic we already made?
@jc90603 жыл бұрын
@Salvatore Guidone These are all good points. Every time a technological solution looks like, well, a solution, it turns out that trying to solve a political-economic-ecological-technological problem with technology alone unsurprisingly ends up missing what it's aiming for. A bit like the invention of plastic in the first place. It could have a sustainable, life giving role in a sensible world but we don't have one of those so it can't. I reckon anyway.
@coltonross54143 жыл бұрын
@@crums0nMyJ4cket the problem with that is that if you do that the companies will just move to a more hospital country thereby depriving you of any resources the brought to the county and not solving the problem since they are still operating.
@fenrirr223 жыл бұрын
@@crums0nMyJ4cket Because glass is not just more expensive, but far more harmful to the environment, than plastic. Recycling something is not a good or magic solution in all cases (except aluminum) it is a last resort. The fact that glass is recyclable doesn't make it environmentally friendly, it means, that if it is collected, and handled properly it doesn't end up in some animals stomach in the ocean, which is only a part (and not the most important one) of our environmental impact. Glass is far heavier, than plastic, it breaks easily (so it won't be reused infinitely), it requires far more material, energy and money to produce. It requires huge amount of processes and energy when it is recycled as well. It has far higher direct GHG emission, than plastic, far higher environmental impact due to its material requirement, it increases the GHG emission of transport due to its weight far more than plastic, and its only small advantage is, that it doesn't end up in the ocean if handled properly, which is 100% true for plastics as well. Plastic problem is exclusively a waste management problem, not a material one. It is far better to the environment, than any other alternative materials (except aluminum, due to its infinite recyclability using a fraction of the energy cost, than its virgin version), and we just fcking up the waste management part, but that doesn't make paper, glass, cotton better which have far higher environmental and GHG impact, Greens just never talks about that, because plastic is the enemy due to its scientific nature.
@thegecko47043 жыл бұрын
If mealworms aren’t native to your area don’t let them go!
@ShowAndTool3 жыл бұрын
Yeah that made me cringe lol
@endhunter5693 жыл бұрын
Well that begs the question. Where are they not native to
@c.kainoabugado79353 жыл бұрын
@@endhunter569 look it up b4 dumping.
@c.kainoabugado79353 жыл бұрын
Ty!
@locknkey53093 жыл бұрын
That probably were just staged for the shot. He then later brought in a chicken or smthg and it ate them all ( i hope ) lol
@skykidddragonfly28123 жыл бұрын
50 Years Later: Larva have been sending bugs and predators of these bugs to extinction. Controlling beetle population is deemed impossible due to quantity and size of eggs.
@SatnamSingh-ke7rb3 жыл бұрын
Lmao
@renseiryuu3 жыл бұрын
Hans! Get ze flammenwerfer!
@arcanondrum65433 жыл бұрын
D.W. is enabling Greenwashing. This video is much like their recent video where Oil Companies wanted to charge us (more) for pumping Liquified Carbon Dioxide underground (yet in "unrelated" but ACTUAL News, Methane Hydrates escape as I write this). This is not "Reporting", it is free advertising; _"Don't change your habits, the Wealth Class is counting on you."_ Sociopaths got rich by appealing to convenience for us. This was after other sociopaths ensured we would sit in traffic in metal peniises. The metal penises were for us to feel happy and accomploshed while we spent most of our lives on the great hamster wheel of consumerism. So, if you think that the sociopaths want that level of obedience to end then you're forgetting about Profit Growth.
@lp-kt1hu3 жыл бұрын
These are beetle larva they go through metamorphosis to become beetles
@skykidddragonfly28123 жыл бұрын
@@lp-kt1hu thanks for correction, typed that out during midnight
@yifeitian95413 жыл бұрын
I never realized meal worms had little feet on the bottom. They look too cute to kill now.
@zxylia11383 жыл бұрын
That’s disgusting
@vincentfox49293 жыл бұрын
They aren't worms. They are the larval stage of a beetle so like all insects that have feet.
@Spunchbab-X3 жыл бұрын
@@zxylia1138 atleast they help eliminating Plastic
@currynun023 жыл бұрын
@@zxylia1138 how is it disgusting?
@ChristianCaurla3 жыл бұрын
They are really cute I agree! And I was also surprise of the feet when I bought them
@mcdxc1233 жыл бұрын
"This is how they reduce a piece of Styrofoam" Me:"NICE!!" "In just a week!" Me:"this problem will never end..."
@DWPlanetA3 жыл бұрын
😉 It's a start.
@Arikku3 жыл бұрын
@@DWPlanetA i hope so
@libmitchell63712 жыл бұрын
Yes it had some holes in it. Hardly destroyed. If there are other food sources do the mealworms choose plastic or the other food?
@gopikirankommineni11373 жыл бұрын
Is that a plastic bag that the worms were shipped in. The irony around my world still unfolding 🥲
@rodrigorivera58083 жыл бұрын
I didn’t notice that 😂😂😂😂😂😂
@sopadurso3 жыл бұрын
It's so they dont starve during the trip X D
@TheMetaKid3 жыл бұрын
It looked more like a cloth bag to me.
@Christopher._M3 жыл бұрын
I also noticed that.
@turkey20033 жыл бұрын
I keep mealworms for fishing and feeding my pet fish and they can eat plastic but they eat it soooooooooo slow. It takes months and several generations of the worm to half digest it.
@FingerinUrDaughter3 жыл бұрын
you forgot to mention the part where they can literally only do this with styrofoam and plastic wrap, and how it still comes out as plastic, just in tiny compressed balls.
@farahjanine3 жыл бұрын
Is that so? This would make this good message worse. 😕
@joshwekony88613 жыл бұрын
Although, using a mesh sorting system, they could sort out the tiny compressed balls, which as stated in the video, would be able to be reused
@FingerinUrDaughter3 жыл бұрын
@@joshwekony8861 no. they wouldnt. the whole "plastic dosent biodegrade" thing is bullshit. it gets broken down by acid and natural processes like anything else. and once it has been broken down again, its useless. just because a video tells you something dosent make it true, spend a few minutes googling the FACTS involved instead of taking peoples words as fact.
@jojolafrite903 жыл бұрын
@@FingerinUrDaughter And what you say is far from factual and thorough.
@09simon163 жыл бұрын
@@jojolafrite90 plastic+worm=C02 Tree+C02=air Since worms break it down to little balls and that ball is carbon and trees eat the carbon that means. Plant more trees and the problem will be solved
@prestothedragon12673 жыл бұрын
I hope people don’t see this as an excuse to buy even more plastic products
@clideroof17083 жыл бұрын
2:17 - that is not plastic, it is bottle made of hemp and that's why it degraded in 80 days. Plastic needs 1000s of years to degrade. If that was plastic what you showed, our problem would be already solved.
@MsPoliteRants3 жыл бұрын
I saw this as an ad on “Our Changing Climate” and I actually almost cried a little. I didn’t know that worms were eating the plastic... I knew bacteria had been discovered, but not worms. I’m so overjoyed.
@DWPlanetA3 жыл бұрын
Thank you, we're glad we were able to cause so much joy. Subscribe and spread the word!
@yeetusfeetus7133 жыл бұрын
@@DWPlanetA tbh, worm is a better alternative
@yeetusfeetus7133 жыл бұрын
Plastic eating bacteria could be on our hand and we don't always clean our hand nicely. There's always a little bacteria survivor. and if they go into our stomach, we doom. Theirs microplastic in our pee. (Idk if it's true, if it isn't, then my sentence is just a waste of time)
@rephaelreyes85523 жыл бұрын
Won’t that affect the food chain? The concentration of micro plastic found in blood would increase?
@DemeDemetre3 жыл бұрын
same, I only knew about bacteria
@lexerwilliams88803 жыл бұрын
I kinda want to see an update on this. I wonder how far they have come in the last 9 months
@calklobuchar Жыл бұрын
Probs haven’t made any progress
@F4sy Жыл бұрын
@@calklobuchar Bribes under the table I assume
@goblindvd3 жыл бұрын
This reminds me on Dexters Laboratory when he made Timmy the termite that eats metal lol
@Krawurxus3 жыл бұрын
That sounds like the worst idea ever
@PastaCouch3 жыл бұрын
@@Krawurxus It was a kids' show...
@Krawurxus3 жыл бұрын
@@PastaCouch So what? I'm just sitting here pondering the disastrous implications of someone creating a fast-breeding insect that can devour metal at the same speed normal termites do wood. It'd literally be the end of civilization 🤣
@FirstLast-ej6yv3 жыл бұрын
I didn't noticed??
@flagwashere3 жыл бұрын
@@Krawurxus not the end of civilization. The plausible end of Modern civilization but humans will carry on
@ZabZabZabie3 жыл бұрын
What are the consequences of eating plastic filled worms for their predators? Also considering the ammount of plastic to get rid of, isn't their a risk of the specie becoming invasive?
@luminousfractal4202 жыл бұрын
If it's the same as humans...cancer and hormonal imablances
@LiberatedMind12 жыл бұрын
They'll be fine, and hey our planet will be cleaner!
@user-gi7cn7ol7w2 жыл бұрын
Maybe just do it in isolated area? No?
@OliverCaesar3 жыл бұрын
This is great and all, but we need to stop using plastic as much as possible.
@theplasmatron33063 жыл бұрын
Agreed
@rillafy79663 жыл бұрын
Honestly not really viable as people wont stop.
@Bos_Meong3 жыл бұрын
impossible and never will
@OliverCaesar3 жыл бұрын
Many people WILL use as little plastic as possible. Just looks like y'all are making excuses. It's really not that hard to reduce your plastic usage. All it takes is minimal will.
@OliverCaesar3 жыл бұрын
@@davidavni5634 I get what you're saying. What's being ignored here is what I'm saying. I never said "stop using plastic at all." Use LESS plastic. Like, fill your own water at home. I always have quart mason jars with water. I never buy bottled water. There's plastic lids on my mason jars because they're far better than the metal ones but I don't have to buy new ones every day. I make an effort to avoid products with extra packaging. I often turn down a bag at the store if I don't need it. It's not an all or nothing thing. Just try to be conscious of things. We don't have to intentionally destroy our own habitat.
@imiy3 жыл бұрын
I'm afraid this embrionic stage technology may become an exuse to keep using disposable plastic, or even using it more.
@edward19373 жыл бұрын
What can help is holding major plastic and oil corporations responsible and to stop producing plastic as a necessity item for everything.
@akashdobhal30542 жыл бұрын
Its so kind that they ship these worms in plastic bag so they can have snacks for the trip. Faith restored in humanity 🙏
@MrMokey243 жыл бұрын
This is missing any relevant information. After having watched this video I have not learned anything about plastics or about enzymes that can break them down. Just statements like we SHOULD do this and we should avoid this other thing but nothing substantiated. I would have loved to learn about different kinds of plastics (they are not all the same) and what those enzymes or worms break it down into.
@y21rico833 жыл бұрын
EXACTLY.
@deepsleep78222 жыл бұрын
History has shown that when we try to do this sort of thing, it gets out of hand and wrecks havoc on the eco system. Gypsy moths, certain fish species to name a couple.
@trp3 жыл бұрын
Dude just released a jar of plastic eating worms in his backyard
@jamesmoriarity443 жыл бұрын
Don't miss next week's episode on invasive species.
@rostislavsvoboda70132 жыл бұрын
12 Monkeys
@jaridkeen1233 жыл бұрын
If you find this interesting you should think about buildong a Worm Composting System. They are smaller than you think and you can help prevent food scraps going to the landfill
@SirKolass3 жыл бұрын
What difference does that make? Food quickly decomposes in a landfill.
@lcs_myr3 жыл бұрын
@@SirKolass "What difference"? "In a landfill". You said it.
@SirKolass3 жыл бұрын
@@lcs_myr Again, what's the problem?
@lcs_myr3 жыл бұрын
@@SirKolass There are several perspectives from where I see problems with it. 1. It fills up your bin. There are countries in which you have to pay your trash bin. So saving space is actually saving money in some cases. 2. Compost is rich in nutrients, minerals and life. Throwing compost in a landfill is a waste of rich organic material that regenerates and revives all kinds of soils. We honestly have a huge problem with losing top soil and fertile land through the industrial agriculture in a scale that leads to desertification even in moderate climates already. 3. In landfills all kinds of toxic chemicals accumulate. Trust me, I had contact with engineering students who worked and researched around these issues. So, the rich organic material gets polluted by all kinds of toxins so that you are not able to get something useful out of it easily. 4. I am not sure if you are gardening. But I tell you, to start plants, I have not found something better yet than a mix of clay, charcoal, ashes and compost that went through a worm composting system.
@SirKolass3 жыл бұрын
@@lcs_myr We don't have to pay for the bin in my country. I do gardening, however I just throw the organics on the soil. The only organics I have in my bin are few dinner leftovers when there is any. If you don't do gardening and you don't pay for the bin there is no reason for a worm composting however. What worries me are the the things that don't decompose like plastic, those are the things that cause trouble in a landfill, not organics. Recycling is the way.
@keithng52493 жыл бұрын
The enzymes were first found in JAPAN in 2016 (I read the news myself at that time). Saying that Federica 'discovered' the worms in 2017, is implying that she was the first ever person to chance upon this revolutionary way to recycle plastic (yes, worms and enzymes are different, but the enzymes inside the worm were already known). A bit of a 'kill steal' if u ask me.
@locknkey53093 жыл бұрын
There is also the larvae of the wax moth which has been said to be able to digest plastic
@flashwachook3 жыл бұрын
You know how white people always like taking credit for themselves lol
@ChristianCaurla3 жыл бұрын
It's true that bacteria where found in Japan for the first time. Federica was the first one to find to these worms though.
@adity4587 Жыл бұрын
Ain't they??
@GonzoTehGreat Жыл бұрын
If the worms are a reliable source of the bacteria, then their discovery is a separate achievement, worthy of recognition.
@pjacobsen10003 жыл бұрын
Several countries in Europe burn waste plastic in large incinerators, producing heat and energy in the process. That process actually does turn the plastic back into its base components: Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, chloride....
@mandmsmapper84003 жыл бұрын
They also release dangerous chemicals
@pjacobsen10003 жыл бұрын
@@mandmsmapper8400 True, but you can filter most of them out. Incinerator exhaust is tested for compliance with environmental regulations.
@sanjaybhatikar3 жыл бұрын
Beautiful 🤩 But bear in mind that these worms aren’t decomposing plastic, they are making it available to reuse in new plastic products. The plastic still remains in the environment. Please consider reducing consumption.
@patmccall46473 жыл бұрын
Yeah I think the best thing would be to cut out disposable plastic. Plastics in engineering is irreplaceable but do I really need my plastic toothbrush wrapped in plastic?
@bloom55cookie3 жыл бұрын
@@patmccall4647 Toothbrushes don’t even need to be plastic either 🤷🏽♀️ there are wooden ones
@bloom55cookie3 жыл бұрын
@Isnsn Cjdjw I already do lol
@c.dl.42743 жыл бұрын
It’s not going to do ANYTHING unless we STOP wasting plastic. Otherwise we would need so many of those worms that the amount of plastic eaten outweighs the amount of plastic being wasted which is very unlikely!
@africanwarlord58773 жыл бұрын
2036: Warms become global invasive species
@ShowAndTool3 жыл бұрын
They are already in many ecosystems - these worms are just a bb beetle!
@sownheard3 жыл бұрын
@@ShowAndTool you don't introduce 5000 extra insect into the wild unless your fishing for problems. Ecosystems are not made of magic And humans have a bad track record introducing incerting animals in the eco system
@ShowAndTool3 жыл бұрын
@@sownheard sorry o wasn't clear, I agree very much that it is a problem to introduce them. I just meant we already messed up and did that! Mealworms are commonly introduced to new areas with shipment of cereal crops and stuff and then became established household nuisance pests in the area I'm in, but presumably in warmer climates have a greater impact on the ecosystems beyond people's pantry's
@africanwarlord58773 жыл бұрын
@Joel Roy it's Gonna be wormageddon👻😖🤣
@ShowAndTool3 жыл бұрын
They could be our Meal Ticket out of this mess. But the best approach is probably piece-Meal.
@Maghram2 жыл бұрын
maan this sounds like the start of an apocalypse movie, i hope it stays in movies
@kennethfelipe8233 жыл бұрын
I remember in the second grade we had meal worms as a science project. They turned into Beatles. I’m just wondering what would happen if we introduced them on a massive scale and what would that do to our environment as well? I guess I’ll have to keep watching the video. This is so interesting and I love it.
@RedChaosScrungle3 жыл бұрын
Invasive species are never a good idea, it'd be a lot better to collect the plastic and put it into vats with the enzymes found within the mealworms.
@RedChaosScrungle3 жыл бұрын
@@mrlancetnik5383 You seem to not understand, I'm worrying about the impacts they could have on native insects filling the same niche, or what if they're too good at eating certain native plants, just cause some animals can and will eat them doesn't stop their capability of overtaking an ecosystem.
@RedChaosScrungle3 жыл бұрын
@@mrlancetnik5383 Exactly, it's a solution that wouldn't work in nature, that's what I was saying. Hence why I said it'd be better to bring the plastic into a processing facility.
@tejpalsingh84383 жыл бұрын
they will get in your house and start eating everything that is plastic.
@oficialtf2chanelnftguynow8103 жыл бұрын
Imagine your pets turning into a human band
@DisneyJF3 жыл бұрын
I had a great respect for this channel. I never thought that this channel would end this clip by saying "the worms have started living with plastics and we should learn to do the same.". I did not expect this from DW Channel.
@ralz972 жыл бұрын
Sounds like they lost hope lol
@amazingsupergirl71253 жыл бұрын
First I’ve heard of this. The answer is still for companies to drastically reduce plastic production from the start though. We need extreme guidelines on what types and how much plastic can be produced. Certain things such as Coke bottles should only be legal if they are recycle. All the drink companies would be on the same playing level because consumers would be paying $10 A bottle whether it’s Pepsi or Coke. OR we could buy a tin can for $1.
@luminousfractal4202 жыл бұрын
Easy solution. Bio-id the plastics so they're always traceable back to the factory by law. And then charge them cleanup costs. As soon as it becomes more profitable to not use plastics they'll switch. There's no logic on earth that can defend further use.
@lettuce16262 жыл бұрын
I remember we had mealworms in our class. We had a project to take care of the worms until it grew into beetles
@briancarter99273 жыл бұрын
Would love to see an update video on this, super cool
@AP-ex6qz3 жыл бұрын
I am so glad that DW liked this comment. It's must mean good news.
@briancarter99273 жыл бұрын
@@AP-ex6qz I certainly hope so (:
@thatguy_guy3 жыл бұрын
This documentary feels incomplete.
@adkinsomm57143 жыл бұрын
caz it's a clickbait.
@ViktorWahlberg3 жыл бұрын
I was really waiting to hear about how we were gonna clean our oceans, cause that's one problem we really don't know how to solve. Worms eating plastic in landfills, even though it might be a decent solution, I believe is more a cool novel idea rather than a sustainable solution. The scale of which we'll need to produce worms or bacteria is staggering, and what if it were to become commonplace and start degrading plastic in use. The best we have is to simply recycle or burn. Besides the toxic smoke, which we can filter, the co2 contents of digestion is the same as incineration, generally speaking at least.
@kittenmittens43873 жыл бұрын
Wait, After everything the experts said he just releases non--native insects into the environment?
@리주민3 жыл бұрын
7:17 In many countries, there are no landfills. The govt burns the trash in incinerators. Very efficient incinerators can double as power plant.
@NaptownClassic3 жыл бұрын
@@Coralysis2390 Yes.
@philipchang13553 жыл бұрын
A better solution is to stop making and using non-degradable plastics.
@dfquartzidn61513 жыл бұрын
That means we have to make non-degradable plastic illegal which could cause an uproar and economical collapse. Literally, the biggest reason why we still have this problem is because we have to compromise with those companies.
@Odyss20233 жыл бұрын
Everything made out of wood, stone, and metal are much more expensive and labor intensive. The world economy will crash.
@OatmealTheCrazy3 жыл бұрын
@@dfquartzidn6151 ah, yes, let all civilization collapse so that the companies don't collapse
@rostislavsvoboda70132 жыл бұрын
And the worms will go extinct. Well thank you for that.
@gal_in27083 жыл бұрын
Great video, i raised mealworms and used them to biodegrade styrofoam as a science proyect, i dint even know this was something very new!. While they do eat styrofoam it is true that having a lot of worms eating plastic is not a realistic solution to solve the problem. Still the use of enzymes to solve the problem is something really interesting. I find it very likely that soon in the future we will see those enzyme reactors to biodegrade plastics.
@r.1.336 Жыл бұрын
@Clarissa 1986 you can’t eat the worms though how does it produce more food
@kyu_cat2 жыл бұрын
In Germany we have a system called "Pfand", which is integrated in the price. You return the plastic bottles you bought from store and get money for it. I was still a kid when they launched that system in 2003, but I know for sure that before that the city had plastic bottles everywhere, it polluted the streets, the nature, the water and no one cared. Now almost 20 years later, you will not find any plastic bottles and cans here at all, or just some few, but people pick them up to return them to have some pocket money. There is also a Pfand for glas bottles, but it's less money they give, so you rather will find those on the streets, but usually there is always someone who searches for them, it's free money in the end.
@briantcosta3 жыл бұрын
This channel simply amazes me every time I watch a video. Congratulations guys for all the work, the editing, all the presenters have an amazing diction... All love from BRASIL 🖖
@allingtonmarakan14362 жыл бұрын
There is a polystyrene box in the disused plot next to our house and, when I first saw what was left of it, I noticed that it was full of small holes as though something had been eating holes in it, just as insects eat into plants. Maybe this is what is happening here too.
@kr8s3 жыл бұрын
If you starve them from eating anything ... They will surely Eat something
@sr9693 жыл бұрын
Now its time for the scientist to 'modify' them to like eating plastic!
@kr8s3 жыл бұрын
@Lobo Cachondo trust me if I put you in there for 10 days you will do the same 😂😂
@djcheckmate13 жыл бұрын
What if birds or other animals eat them and they find a way back into our bodies? More research needs to be done but it’s definitely an interesting topic.
@kr8s3 жыл бұрын
@@djcheckmate1 bio accumulation ....it definitely will
@eltiobry38593 жыл бұрын
I thought the problem with plastics is economical, since the waste is so expensive to recycle, which it can, but making it from oil and gas is so much cheaper.
@eliasmrj15413 жыл бұрын
Kardashians watching that 👁 👄 👁
@Lovey.013 жыл бұрын
🤣🤣
@lilmidgey69273 жыл бұрын
"more colorfull than before" ancient greece: *now this look like a job for me*
@randomusername9873 жыл бұрын
Stupid question: Do the worms/enzymes and all that actually break the plastic molecules to normal bioelements or does this just make the big piece of plastic go out of sight and in the end just worsen the situation we have: plastic would literally be everywhere but we just cant see it anymore? eg 25 percent of drinking water would consist of plastic.
@vioheubach31123 жыл бұрын
The question is not stupid, the video is for not discussing it.
@NoName-cx3gk3 жыл бұрын
25% you mean 0.25%
@randomusername9873 жыл бұрын
@@NoName-cx3gk No, in that random example, which is to make clear what i mean by the question, i wrote 25 percent. You should go and get your vision and comprehension skills checked.
@felpshehe3 жыл бұрын
"It's a design problem... we're using plastic to make stupid conveniences" Karens: where will I drink water from if it doesn't come in a plastic bottle? I need hydrated y know
@dpnshah3 жыл бұрын
Wait until birds start discover this new dish
@chile123453 жыл бұрын
@Lobo Cachondo nice troll
@deathsonggaming3 жыл бұрын
My lizard just cares about how tasty the worms look
@-Subtle-3 жыл бұрын
How "Stop Making Plastic" WOULD solve our plastic pollution problem.
@ioftheuniverse23843 жыл бұрын
This
@Kmoxid3 жыл бұрын
Sure
@l31zon23 жыл бұрын
In Germany they actually have a machine that when you put a plastic bottle in it will give you back money. I found it out when I went there to watch ESL tournement with a friend and he told me. We stay after everyone left and collect 2 bag of plastic bottle. We got 60euro back, enough for gaz money. Its actually very good. That money comes from the comsumer, the price on plastic bottle drink is a lil bit higher than other country because of this.
@biggsbutts37553 жыл бұрын
I’m hoping there’s no side effects to the worms eating plastic. That and they actually prefer eating other things over plastic things cuz then it’s a bit sad realising they probably won’t be able to do much help
@Johan-so3tz3 жыл бұрын
After reading the thumbnail title at first, I thought that plastic was eating worms... WoW
@paulmaloney70743 жыл бұрын
do these mealworms actually complete their life cycle on a foam diet?
@kevindevlieger3002 жыл бұрын
Okay if you do this with plastic you collect.The meal worms themselves could probably be used as well to make biobased polymers from as well. If you don't do it with collected plastic you're going to create another problem. Living animals such as chickens eating this worms, we eating the chickens and the microplastics ending in our body. Also.. in the wild it is very unlikely the meal worms will change their diets to plastic. 2nd issue is that we will never have enough meal worms to get rid of all plastic waste. So in the end it will only make a small fraction of all the waste. 3rd issue is that we are talking about styrofoam. What about the most common packaging like PET, Polypropylene (PP) and Polyethylene (PE)?? (For people who dont know: PP & PE are used to make materials like plastic bags; PET are the plastic bottles) Also what about other plastics that are now already very difficult to recycle such as PU or rubber? (PU is polyurethane and is everywhere; Insulation materials, dashboard of your car, matrasses, ...) Sorry, not sorry. But this is hidden marketing for a company that sells the meal worms. :-p However I think the science behind the chemical breakdown in their bodies is more interesting. What about using the enzymes to chemically recycle the plastics in the same way they do? Chemical recycling already exists. But maybe we can do it in a better way. We don't have to make the things to advanced. I like simple straight forward solutions. It's not always possible to keep it simple, but sometimes by going too advanced we often create new problems we didn't see coming beforehand. Also... If anyone rich enough reading this and is willing to hire me as a consultant feel free to contact me. ;-)
@greyarea38043 жыл бұрын
Mealworms are also available in most pet stores. A lot of fish and lizard Keepers feed their animals with them
@Bos_Meong3 жыл бұрын
what? feed them with plastics?
@donovandelaney31712 жыл бұрын
We've had two Plastic Revolutions and we are currently in a third Plastic Revolution.
@lorentsenjr3 жыл бұрын
That styrofoam cube was not really much smaller than before
@sownheard3 жыл бұрын
Exactly this video is propaganda for plastic company's so they don't face regulations. "Why act now if the problem is solved in the future" The logistics behind a plastic insect recycling farm sounds insane. Let alone implement it world wide.
@hansalas3 жыл бұрын
I think my dog can eat more plastic than these useless worms..🤣🤣🤣
@lorentsenjr3 жыл бұрын
@@hansalas I think the difference is that the worms might actually break down the plastic in a meaningful way, while when your dog eats it, it is still just plastic inside your dog. Or, at least I hope that is the case! :D
@lorentsenjr3 жыл бұрын
@@sownheard The logistics might seem insane, but don't let that dissuade you tho. If it works, then it should be implemented. Even world wide, since it is a world wide problem.
@delicious6193 жыл бұрын
I think that missed the point. They talked about bioreactors making bacteria and enzymes that are inside the worms that break down plastic, not necessarily the worms themselves as a solution to the problem. It may not be a viable solution, but one people are exploring.
@VarunRanadeps3 жыл бұрын
Creating low grade plastic for which we can easily produce enzymes to degrade and then reuse can also be an interesting option
@zedrhyx17883 жыл бұрын
You need tons and tons of them and it will get out of hand will quick
@yuriwaki25823 жыл бұрын
from what I understood the idea is to replicate their enzymes, not use the worms
@zedrhyx17883 жыл бұрын
@@yuriwaki2582 you will still need alot of worms to get rid if plastic garbage
@ChristianCaurla3 жыл бұрын
@@yuriwaki2582 that's the right answer. You just replicate the enzymes.
@OIE823 жыл бұрын
Misleading title. Video only showed that mealworms can eat plastic but doesn't talk about the details. Like for instance, what are the waste products and byproducts of the worms eating plastic.
@xerotolerant3 жыл бұрын
Lol wait mealworm beetles are pests. that's the equivalent of releasing an army of baby rats in your yard.
@ChristianCaurla3 жыл бұрын
Not quite. Mealworms are NOT an invasive specie.
@xerotolerant3 жыл бұрын
@@ChristianCaurla I think they are common everywhere but the beetles are still pests. Like rats
@xerotolerant3 жыл бұрын
@@ChristianCaurla I take it back. They are pests if you have to deal with grains. But just decomposers if that’s bit an issue for you. So it’s fine I guess
@rockyscarlet3 жыл бұрын
Living organisms are not supposed to eat plastic, this could backfire really bad
@MegaGomzy3 жыл бұрын
Completely wrong message... The amount of plastics produced and dumped on daily basis is way way too much for worms. They just poked few holes and not eating it. Just imagine if you are left hungry with some grass clipings you may endup eating a few ones to rid hunger same way these worms are doing.
@arturo_renteria3 жыл бұрын
You clearly did not understood the message, they are trying to get the enzyme of the worm that is eating the plastic and produce it on an industrial level
@5036dh3 жыл бұрын
This proves that nature adopts
@melia32403 жыл бұрын
I love mealworm why? They feed my Tarantula
@DWPlanetA3 жыл бұрын
😂
@hrushikeshavachat900 Жыл бұрын
The long-term solution is to reduce the dependence on plastics. However, at the same time we need such solutions which help us reduce the impact on environment in areas where it is hard to replace plastics as well as to reduce the plastic waste that's already been created in the environment.
@Venom-hq7ex3 жыл бұрын
The amount of times you said “worms” is too much, they’re BEETLES!
@gauloiseguy3 жыл бұрын
Well, if we're gonna nitpick, they are beetle larvae 😉👍
@baller84milw2 жыл бұрын
I wonder if their droppings also contain smaller levels of these digested plastics, so they'd subsequently be polluting the environment with microplastics when they defecate.
@sohamkumar47103 жыл бұрын
these are the youtube channels which deserve 100 million subs and yet we have rather useless channels sitting at the top
@Edwinbraun203 жыл бұрын
True
@bhf49723 жыл бұрын
Their other channles have alot of subs doe
@DraQinn Жыл бұрын
Plastic isn't the problem? I think a lot of people just don't know how the plastics lowers fertility/virility quite substantially, for all creatures exposed.
@n-matter3053 жыл бұрын
omg im buying these right now, John is so happy honestly a mood
@AhurAmud3 жыл бұрын
The problem is, that the plastic industries collectively decided "one day" that the money isn't found in reusable plastic but in bin plastic. At the start we used plastic like we should have on only thinks that where meant to last but... hey this no one who has to pay for environmental damages (at least no companies have to).
@Passionate_Potato3 жыл бұрын
Cool video! Glad I found this channel.
@DWPlanetA3 жыл бұрын
Thank you, we're glad you liked it. Subscribe for more and spread the word 😉!
@a4000t2 жыл бұрын
Its funny,as a kid in the 70's and 80's we bought meat wrapped in paper,got our groceries in paper bags and used glass bottles and cans.vegitables and fruit came in wooden crates that were reuseable. All compostable or relatively easy to recycle or reuse. and now with all the green washing,things are much worse now pollution wise with all the plastics.
@shiningeditedmoon3 жыл бұрын
The kardashians: guess we'll die
@deusexmaximum8930 Жыл бұрын
"in weeks rather than centuries" they eat plastic so slowly...
@diseasedworm9209 Жыл бұрын
centuries i quite long tho
@jesuspajarilla82653 жыл бұрын
Very interesting topic and can be a problem solving strategy in the future.
@safiakhan628 Жыл бұрын
I saw someone making diesal from plastic! That’s very useful
@dfordano3 жыл бұрын
This is the FUTURE!!
@tigresa743 жыл бұрын
I think that those mealworms just became some birds' meal...!
@Lovey.013 жыл бұрын
9:16 I hope birds don’t eat them. They are so precious ❤️
@ChristianCaurla3 жыл бұрын
Thanks lovely, I hope so too! I became quite weirdly attached in the weeks together.
@리주민3 жыл бұрын
So precious....that's why we kill and consume them.
@Tony.Turtle3 жыл бұрын
It is gross but cool at the same time. It is gross to me because I have a fear of lots of holes together, but it is so cool because I didnt know any bug eating plastic!
@KelloVG3 жыл бұрын
Amazing Video, you got a sub from me! I am curious to what is the nutritional value of plastic? These enzymes are breaking up the plastic polymers to its core components, so simple carbon atoms, so that's below any 'nutritional' structures like that of a protein or carbohydrate so how do the worms utilise it? Does that make sense? haha. It is 1am right now so I could just be being really dumb right now! Secondly, if we've identified it's an enzyme within the worm couldn't we extract the enzyme properties from within the worm and recreate it in a lab or harvest the bacteria and grow it in a lab? Thanks!
@DWPlanetA3 жыл бұрын
That's a good question! The team found: larvae will eat polystyrene, though perhaps understandably, they prefer not to. The mealworms ate about a quarter of the foam, converting some of it to CO2 at a rate that increased throughout the experiment. At 16 days, they had converted 48% of the carbon they had eaten into CO2 and excreted 49% in their feces. Only 0.5% was incorporated into the worms’ bodies-comparable to the small amount of carbon termites absorb when eating wood.
@KelloVG3 жыл бұрын
@@DWPlanetA Thanks for replying, I really appreciate it. As a biology grad this has naturally caught my curiosity. So lastly, the 49% in the faces, are they broken up and now useable molecules or are those too microplastics and ultimately left with the original problem of not being bale to break up plastics? Thank you once again!
@DWPlanetA3 жыл бұрын
Dear KelloVG, this is a really good question, too! Maybe this helps: The compounds in the mealworms’ fecal matter had 20% lower molecular weight on average than the original polymers, indicating the polystyrene was degraded in their guts. Yang and his team also showed that microbes in the mealworms’ guts were responsible for breaking down the polystyrene. When they gave the worms the antibiotic gentamicin, the polystyrene in their fecal matter no longer showed degradation. 🐛 If you want to know more details, check out the study: pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.5b02661?source=cen
@KelloVG3 жыл бұрын
@@DWPlanetA I appreciate you! :)
@carolinelalumiere4834 Жыл бұрын
You know I woke up this morning thinking about the plastic and waste problem. I decided this morning to tell my daughter that I will no longer bring toothpaste in the house. One thought led to another there after and I realized that because of our over abundance of plastic that worms do not naturally eat plastic but they learned to do this because in the garbage and landfills food is in plastic so in order to get out of the plastic bags and things they had to eat their way out. I say out because many larvae grow from the rotting food. But I guess once they already exist they will equally eat from the outside in to get to the food also. So they are not plastic eating worms. They are worms that learned to do this because of the plastic surrounding their food.
@Manni-lk1oz3 жыл бұрын
Amazing! Everyone should know!
@shaun4950 Жыл бұрын
Why isn't this idea more wide spread by now? We need plastic solutions and this is one
@ali-uk6fo3 жыл бұрын
what if we develop a microplastic-eating bacteria, study other bacterias that can breathe water and get eaten by others, combine their nutrients amd structure together, and create a micro-plastic eating, eco-friendly ocean-surfing bacteria that will help clean our oceans and be offered as a new food source?q B^) we could use simulations in the lab to find a suitable predator to keep things in check, and it could evolve to evade as well. we gotta be careful not to accelerate bacterial evolution, though and perhaps we gotta use tweezers for some parts
@boneappletee64163 жыл бұрын
I think the problem is that, historically, whenever humans introduce a creature into the wild in an area that they're not suited to, it results in significant unintended consequences. It would probably be safer to use robots to collect all of the plastic and take it to facilities that can break it down using the plastic-eatign bacteria.
@noustrant3 жыл бұрын
@@boneappletee6416 yes, we're doing more harms than good if you tampering the ecosystem. Look at australia, many indigenous animal were extinct just because humans brought cat with them.
@리주민3 жыл бұрын
You'd have to make a predator for the predator too then 😉
@Sciencedoneright3 жыл бұрын
No. If the world invented gene modification to make those kinds of bacteria, they will instead use it as weapons. Stupid governments.
@hectormontes70563 жыл бұрын
Me and my family have turtles, we buy mealworms all the time, I thought it was some kind of rare exotic worm. Mealworms are so abundant in our house that we see the little beetles all over the place.
@rostislavsvoboda70132 жыл бұрын
Yummy yummy
@CBC4603 жыл бұрын
There is way too much plastic in the world for these little guys. And so much more is being produced every day. These little guys will not be able to clean it all so it is best that we stop using single-use plastics.
@jamespurcer37302 жыл бұрын
The worms that you had probably ate the plastic because it was the only substance that was present in their environment and they had to eat something - ANYTHING - to survive. I noticed that the worms being set "free" at the ending were all dead.
@PolinaLee943 жыл бұрын
Now that's the research that we need to put our money to.
@kellybarthel80603 жыл бұрын
My home town was a gold mining town which the cyanide dumped into the creek killed everything in it, all and it was black. In the late 70s they new they were going to get hit with huge fines they were able to find scientists who created a bacteria that could eat the cinyde. They test and were able start treating the waste water with it, worked so well they started releasing these bacteria into the dead creek in just a few years 3 to 4 the water cleaned out and plants and fish returned. So this is all completely possible.
@purpleblah23 жыл бұрын
I talked to a biology grad student who was studying this topic and if I think she said there were ethical issues with feeding mealworms plastics, because they don’t gain the required nutrition to pupate by eating plastic. And that was apparently unethical treatment of the mealworms, so their research was focusing on isolating and synthesizing the gut bacteria from the mealworms. Though I guess it depends on what you qualify as acceptable treatment of mealworms, because people do just raise them to be pet food, so I can’t see how that’s much different.
@farheart3 жыл бұрын
Its So sad some people dont care about stuff like this, until a disaster happens, we only act when things went to shit rather than PREVENTING it beforehand