Communication d’urgence
11 h 36 | 31 août

Could mealworms help solve our plastic waste problem?

In 5 seconds UdeM doctoral student Chloé Rosa-Teijeiro is studying how mealworms digest plastic and whether there are hidden risks to this promising approach to tackling plastic pollution.
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Plastics are everywhere. They’re in water bottles, food packaging, kitchen utensils, garden chairs, bicycle helmets, toothbrushes, subway benches. But their incredible versatility and durability come at a heavycost: plastic takes hundreds of years to degrade and, in the process, it breaks down into microscopic particles that contaminate waterways, soil and our food supply.

Scientists are exploring various methods for breaking down these resilient materials, including artificial enzymes, microorganism-based recycling processes and, more recently, the natural ability of insects to ingest plastics, or “entomoremediation.”

One promising candidate for entomoremediation is the mealworm (the larvae of the beetle Tenebrio molitor), which is already widely used as a protein source for livestock and pets.

While we know the mealworm is capable of degrading and metabolizing plastic, we don’t know exactly what happens to the plastic after it passes through its digestive system. 

For example, is the plastic completely degraded or is it broken down into finer particles, microplastics, that are even more harmful? And how does consuming plastic affect the mealworm’s health?

Université de Montréal doctoral student Chloé Rosa-Teijeiro is trying to answer these questions, under the supervision of Marie-Odile Benoit-Biancamano and Fanny Renois, professors in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.

Following the plastic trail

The first step in studying the unusual diet’s effect on the mealworm is to create a detailed picture of its normal anatomy to serve as a baseline for detecting pathologies linked to plastic consumption.

Rosa-Teijeiro will then feed the mealworms plastic labelled with a radioactive marker and use autoradiography to track its path through their bodies and determine whether it accumulates in certain organs. She will also check for the presence of plastic in their excrement using Raman spectrometry.

Hidden risks

Although Rosa-Teijeiro’s study is still in its early stages, she does have a few working hypotheses. The first is that ingesting plastic could cause lesions in mealworms similar to those already observed in fish and mammals exposed to microplastics. 

She also believes that mealworms may not be able to fully break down the plastic. This would be particularly concerning because “once released into the environment, microplastics have enormous potential for dispersion,” she said. 

This is why she believes it is important to conduct scientific research before enthusiastically embracing emerging ecological solutions. “Sometimes, in trying to fix one problem, we create an even bigger one,” Rosa-Teijeiro observed. 

Microplastics crisis

This research grew out of Rosa-Teijeiro’s personal fascination with plastic. She was struck by its remarkable staying power: plastic is known to travel thousands of kilometres and remain in the environment for decades. 

She pointed out that plastic was originally created as a substitute for ivory to help protect endangered elephants. “The intentions were good but the ecological consequences have been disastrous,” she said. “I wouldn’t want us to repeat the same mistake with insects.” 

Concerns over the impact of plastic on human and animal health are growing. “We already know that we unintentionally ingest plastic every day,” Rosa-Teijeiro said. “Studies have shown that microplastics are ubiquitous in the food and water we consume.”

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