Feeding preference of insect larvae to waste electrical and electronic equipment plastics

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) plastics not only pollute the environment, but are challenging to treat in an environmentally friendly manner. Biodegradation by insect larvae is potentially an eco-friendly method to treat WEEE plastics, but information about the feeding preference of insect larvae to WEEE plastics is lacking. In this study, a total of nine WEEE and pristine plastics were chosen to feed larvae of the following two insect species, i.e. Galleria mellonella and Tenebrio molitor. G. mellonella larvae significantly favor corresponding pristine plastics compared to two types of WEEE plastics, waste rigid polyurethane (RPU) and waste polystyrene (PS). One possible explanation is the increased chlorine or metals in the WEEE plastics measured using X-ray fluorescence spectrometer analysis. Scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy show that the destruction of physical structures and changes in surface functional groups were found in the two types of WEEE plastics in the larval frass, implying that the larvae partly biodegraded the plastics. Meanwhile, the powdered waste high impact polystyrene plastics (WHIPS) were ingested, but not the lumpy ones, indicating that the consumption by G. mellonella larvae is improved by the WHIPS physical modification. In addition, G. mellonella larvae presented the following decreasing preference for pristine plastics under individual-plastic-fed mode: RPU > phenol–formaldehyde resin > polyethylene (PE) > polypropylene > PS ≈ polyvinyl chloride; this is possibly due to differences in physical properties and chemical structures of the plastics; feeding preference of the larvae under multiple-plastics-fed mode is relatively consistent to that under individual-plastic-fed mode. Interestingly, the consumption by G. mellonella larvae of PE is higher than that of PS, while T. molitor larvae showed the opposite trend, implying that insect larvae have different plastics preference. The findings provide insights into biodegradation of WEEE plastics by insect larvae.