What Is the Problem With Plastic Bags?

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An amateur beekeeper in Spain found holes appearing in her plastic bags. She realised the waxworms were chewing them up and spitting out the plastic. But when they looked into it, they found that the plastic was being degraded. They started looking at the saliva of these waxworms - there were about 200 candidate molecules which could be used as catalysts to speed up chemical reactions. And eventually they narrowed it down to two particular enzymes who are really good at helping to break long polymer chains like polyethylene.

Plastic pollution is damaging the health of the environment, wildlife and us. It has been found on remote islands, in Antarctic snow and in human blood, breast milk and lungs. Alongside rapidly reducing how much plastic we produce, we also need to find new ways to tackle the waste we have created. Madeleine Finlay speaks to the Guardian’s environment editor, Damian Carrington, about the discovery of an enzyme that can rapidly break down plastic bags – found inside the saliva of wax worms – and where else we might find solutions in the natural world. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod