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Beyond Coleoptera and Lepidoptera: Emerging Insect Orders in Plastic Degradation
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This review summarizes existing research on insects beyond beetles and moths that interact with plastics. Cockroaches, crickets, termites, black soldier flies and midges have been shown to fragment, chemically alter or partially digest plastics, sometimes aided by gut microbes, but full breakdown into harmless substances has not been confirmed in most species.
One of the most critical environmental challenges of the 21st century is plastic pollution, with global plastic production exceeding 430.9 million metric tons in 2024 and conventional disposal methods proving inadequate for managing plastic waste. Recently, insect-mediated plastic biodegradation has gained considerable attention, and existing literature predominantly focuses on Coleoptera and Lepidoptera, leaving other insect orders unexplored. This review examines evidence of plastic interactions through fragmentation, depolymerization, and biodegradation across non-conventional insect orders, including Blattodea, Orthoptera, Diptera, and emerging orders. Highlights of the degradation activity indicate that Blaptica dubia digested 46.6% of ingested PS within 24 hours, with metagenomics confirming microbial biodegradation. Termites have been observed to ingest and damage the polymers, with isolation of plastic-degrading bacteria. Gryllodes sigillatus has been confirmed to fragment the microplastics into nanoplastics. Hermetia illucens tolerates a wide range of plastics and acts as a bioincubator for isolating plastic-degrading microbes. Chironomid midges show both fragmentation and transformation of the polymer. However, complete mineralization of the polymer in most of these insect orders is yet to be confirmed, and rigorous characterization of enzymes and pathways remains limited. Key challenges include incomplete degradation, the absence of standardized protocols, and insufficient understanding of the fate of additives and intermediates, as well as their impact on the insect’s physiology and environment. Future research should focus on multi-omics characterization of gut microbes, isolating and optimizing plastic-degrading enzymes, and the possibility of integrating insect-based systems into current plastic waste frameworks.
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This review synthesizes research on insect-mediated biodegradation of synthetic polymers, examining species from Coleopteran and Lepidopteran orders — including mealworms, wax moths, and flour beetles — whose gut microbial symbionts enable breakdown of polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyurethane, and PVC into lower molecular weight, less toxic excreta.
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This review examined how insects and their gut microbiota contribute to microplastic biodegradation, summarizing known degradation mechanisms and the microorganisms involved. The authors found that several insect species harbor gut bacteria capable of depolymerizing common plastics like polystyrene and polyethylene, though degradation rates remain too slow for practical remediation at scale.
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This review examines how insects and their gut microbes can break down plastic waste, covering species like mealworms and waxworms that can digest polyethylene and polystyrene. The bacteria living in insect guts are responsible for much of this plastic-degrading activity. Insect-based biodegradation could offer a scalable biological solution to reducing plastic pollution.
Nature’s Plastic Predators: A Comprehensive and Bibliometric Review of Plastivore Insects
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This comprehensive review identifies over 23 insect species across multiple orders capable of degrading plastic polymers, proposing that plastic-degrading enzymes are likely evolutionary repurposings of enzymes originally used to digest natural materials like lignin, beeswax, and chitin—insights that could inform engineering of robust enzymes for large-scale plastic bioremediation.
The use of insects, some land and marine invertebrates, in the biodegradation of plastic
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