Worms in the kitchen: how food waste could be solved by the humble invertebrate

Worm assisted composting saves organic waste from incineration and helps create valuable planting soil

The lowly worm is responsible for some good news. Recent Stanford research shows that worms can eat small quantities of styrofoam.

Mealworms are able to live on a diet of styrofoam without any health implications, researchers found. Microorganisms in their gut break down the plastic foam into carbon dioxide and excreted pellets (resembling rabbit droppings), which can potentially be reused as soil for crops.