This looks like a great opportunity for Science Committee to engage in some useful research:
"Mealworms, the larvae form of darkling beetles, can apparently subsist on a diet of foamed polystyrene, better known as Styrofoam, with no ill effects to their system, thanks to special bacteria in their guts. This could be very hopeful news in light of the amount of Styrofoam and other petroleum-based plastics we consume: Americans throw away 25 billion Styrofoam cups every year, and they will not decompose for thousands of years.
“Our findings have opened a new door to solve the global plastic pollution problem,” said Dr. Wei-Min Wu, a lead researcher on the study, in a press release.
“In the next leg of their scientific journey, the researchers at Stanford and Beihang will investigate whether mealworms and similar insects can consume polypropylene, microbeads, or bioplastics. In addition, they want to find out how the mealworms’ Styrofoam-based diet affects animals further up the food chain.”
“The secret to composting Styrofoam: Mealworms?”
I saw this article. It got me thinking. We could start a meal worm farm to help deal with the fast food waste we sometimes accumulate. The worms can then be sold or given to members who have pets that require live feed.
Maybe we need to start a project to reduce the waste produced by DMS. Thoughts?
I took the pyro classes on Tuesday and we were all drooling over that huge pile of sawdust in the dumpster thinking about how much charcoal we could make with it…
Exactly how does one go about doing such. When we lived in Japan there were guys in little shops who’d measure out some wet, black goop that I think was charcoal. He then put several of the measured handfuls into split hemispheres, close 'em then turn a crank that would shake 'em up to make balls of charcoal. Rather old school but interesting for kids to watch.
The pyro guys put wood into a metal pot with a clamped on ventilated lid. Heat the container for over an hour (we used the burner from a turkey fryer) to cook the moisture and VOCs out. Then tape over the holes in the lid to keep oxygen out until it cools.