A developmental biologist and amateur beekeeper has come up with a new way to get rid of used plastic bags: Make waxworms eat them. The larvae of the greater wax moth, these caterpillars thrive on beeswax.
It turns out the caterpillars can actually break down the bag's polyethylene into ethylene glycol, which can be readily converted into useful substances such as antifreeze. Polyethylene is very hard to break down, making the 80 tons produced a year a big recycling challenge but it seems a solution may be in reach.