In an air-locked Sydney lab some very hungry caterpillars are firming as a solution to a pesky type of plastic that almost always ends up at the dump.
Galleria mellonella, commonly known as the greater wax moth, is not exactly pretty in its larval stage.
But the pasty-looking wrigglers have a kind of superpower Macquarie University researchers hope to weaponise in the war on plastic.
"Galleria have evolved over millions of years to eat the wax in beehives," microbiologist Amy Cain said.
"And that's structurally similar - long carbon chains - to plastics, so they are really, really good at breaking them down."
Recent tests at the university's tightly controlled lab have returned promising results for polyurethane (PU), a particularly problematic type of plastic with few avenues for recycling, meaning much of it winds up at the dump.
"PU is ubiquitous in our lives, from lacquer coatings and elastane clothing to durable foam padding in car seats, cushions and mattresses," Ms Cain said.
A single mattress, for example, produces between 15 and 20 kilograms of PU foam waste. But in happy news, greater wax moth larvae seem to love it.
"When we fed household foams to caterpillars in the lab they munched through 95 per cent in under three days," said Ms Cain, who's focused on unravelling the secrets of the enzymes that allow them to eat wax, and plastic.
"We are figuring out how they do what they do, picking out the relevant enzymes then creating platforms, in this case synthetic microbes, that eat the plastic more efficiently than the original."
The microbiologist is now collaborating with partners to understand plastic biodegradation and improve biologically active enzymes to break down the polymers in PU foams.
If all goes well, the result will be monomers - the pristine building blocks of plastic - that can be infinitely reused to make new plastics.
Ms Cain said that if the insect wasn't such an environmental menace, it would be possible to use the caterpillars themselves to attack plastic waste.
"You don't want to be releasing these things in the wild. They'll eat anything.
"You have to be careful not to put too many in together or they start eating each other."
Greater wax moths are an established pest in Australia and around the world, with beekeepers on constant watch for hive invasions.
