London: The global plastic bag crisis could be solved by a waxworm capable of eating through the material at "uniquely high speeds", scientists have announced.

Researchers have described the tiny caterpillar's ability to break down even the toughest plastics as "extremely exciting" and said the discovery could offer an environmentally friendly solution on an industrial scale.

Around a trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year, of which a huge number find their way into the oceans or are discarded into landfill.

The waxworm, commonly found living in bee hives or harvested as fishing bait, proved it could eat its way through polyethylene, which is notoriously hard to break down, more than 1400 times faster than other organisms.

Scientists believe the worm has enzymes in its saliva or gut that attack plastic's chemical bonds, in the same way they digest the wax found in hives.

The waxworm's potential was discovered when Federica Bertocchini, a biologist and amateur beekeeper, cleaned out her hives and temporarily placed the parasites in a plastic bag.

She soon noticed it had become riddled with holes.

To confirm it was not just the caterpillars' chewing mechanism that was degrading the plastic, researchers "mashed up" some of the worms and smeared them on polyethylene bags, which achieved similar results.

"It's extremely, extremely exciting because breaking down plastic has proved so challenging," said Paolo Bombelli from Cambridge University.

"If a single enzyme is responsible for this chemical process, its reproduction on a large scale using biotechnological methods should be achievable."

He said the most likely scenario was one whereby existing recycling plants could be adapted to biodegrade mass quantities of plastic using the enzyme.

But he added the enzymes could one day possibly be sprayed directly onto landfill sites or even infused into sea plants in order to degrade plastic already in the environment.

In tests at Cambridge, 100 waxworms were let loose on a plastic bag from a British supermarket, with holes appearing after just 40 minutes.

Over a period of 12 hours, 92mg of plastic had been consumed. By contrast, previous trials using bacteria had found the microbes could only work through 0.13mg of plastic in 24 hours.

The study, published in the journal Current Biology, says it is likely that digesting the beeswax found in hives involves breaking down similar types of chemical bonds.

Dr Bertocchini, who led the research at the Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology of Cantabria, said: "We are planning to implement this finding into a viable way to get rid of plastic waste, working towards a solution to save our oceans, rivers, and all the environment from the unavoidable consequences of plastic accumulation."

The Telegraph, London