In Texas, researchers are looking at dead flies as potential feedstock for biodegradable plastic.
The idea gained momentum as Texas A&M University was looking for raw materials that don’t compete with food. “For 20 years, my group has been developing methods to transform natural products – such as glucose obtained from sugar cane or trees – into degradable, digestible polymers that don’t persist in the environment,” said principal investigator Karen Wooley. “But those natural products are harvested from resources that are also used for food, fuel, construction and transportation.”
Wooley and her colleagues also note that black soldier flies are already being raised commercially. Their larvae waste is a nutritious source of animal feed, and the adult flies efficiently break down waste. However, there is currently no use for dead flies, whose exoskeletons are rich in the biopolymer chitin.
Cultivation could eventually turn into a circular system. “Ultimately, we’d like the insects to eat the waste plastic as their food source, and then we would harvest them again and collect their components to make new plastics,” Wooley says. “So, the insects would not only be the source, but they would also then consume the discarded plastics.”