Amateur beekeeper Federica Bertocchini pulled parasitic caterpillars out of her beehives and tossed them in a plastic bag.
To her surprise, they ate the bag.
For her day job Federica Bertocchini is a scientist at the Spanish National Research Council.
She started experimenting and found the wriggling caterpillars broke down plastic faster than any known method.
She and her colleagues have isolated the effective enzyme and are investigating making it on an industrial scale.
Caterpillar may help rid the world of plastic waste
By Feng Xue
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