Eating Plastic

Grade:

6

Teacher:

Alexandria Vaughn

1. What is your project about? My project is about finding out if insect larvae can efficiently decompose plastic, and if so, what larvae decompose the most? In other words, my project is about finding out if insect larvae are the answer to getting rid of all of our plastic waste. 1. Why did you choose this project? I chose my project because I was curious if insect larvae could decompose plastic. I have previously read articles about scientists who observed that certain insect larvae such as waxworms, superworms, mealworms, and giant mealworms could eat and decompose plastic safely, and I wanted to see if I could have insect larvae degrade plastic in my own house. 1. What was your result/ overall conclusion? Overall, I found that out of the four different types of insect larvae I used for my project (waxworms, superworms, mealworms, and giant mealworms), superworms decomposed the most plastic visually, because my scale could not measure measurements smaller than 0.1 grams, which is much larger than the amount of plastic any of the larvae decomposed. The superworms chewed and decomposed some holes in the plastic bags I used for testing, but, as I can't really prove that they ate the most plastic from the amount of research I conducted from my testing, no larvae decomposed any plastic, and the larvae that I used are not very efficient at decomposing plastic. 1. Why is your project important? My project is important, because it shows that in small amounts of larvae, insect larvae might not be the answer to our plastic problem. Another reason my project is important is the reason that it shows that it is possible to degrade plastic in ordinary houses, if it is later found that insect larvae can eat and break down plastic efficiently, with different worms or different types of plastic, not polyethylene plastic.

Project presentation

Research paper