WORMIFY
Plastic was invented in the 1950th. Since then we have produced over 8.3 billion tons of plastic. This means around 300.000 tons of plastic per year by now and the number is growing.
Wormify wants to degrade plastic rubbish naturally and get rid of it quickly and effectively.
It is our goal to tidy up the mess that we all have made and to find a clean solution for us and our future generations. It is known that some insect larvae (the larvae of Tenebrio molitor Linnaeus) have the ability to digest plastic. In our project we want to enable more research on the bacteria that makes it possible for the lavae to digest this non-biodegradable food with the goal to build bioreactors all over the world for a fast biodegradation of plastic rubbish.
You can help us fight plastic pollution, easy and comfortable from your couch. Be part of a change in the world, as long as you can. Learn more about the plastic problem and why it is so important to make a change and join us now.
PLASTIC IN THE OCEAN
Every year around 10 million tons of plastic find their way into the ocean. That's one truckload of plastic every minute.
Fishing industry
One time plastic consumption
Car wheels
More plastic gets in the ocean over the rivers
Cosmetic and washing
Tourism
Cruise ships
GARBAGE PATCH
Rubbish carpets go meters deep and have a diameter of around 1.5 - 3.0 million km².
These gigantic garbage patches grow every day. A large part consists of microplastic. These are tiny plastic particles, smaller than 5mm, that either get directly into the oceans or are created over years of fragmentation of the plastic. As yet microplastic can not be removed from the oceans.
If the plastic consumption continues at the same pace we will have 3x more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.
What's even more shocking is that only about 15% of the plastic rubbish can be found on the beaches, we can see about 15% on the water surface and 70% of the plastic trash is located on the ocean floor.
They either get tangled up in it or mistake it for food and starve with full stomachs of indigestible trash. The rubbish is contaminating their natural habitat and its becoming worse every day.
Microplastics, which are defined as a plastic piece with the size smaller than 5mm, impact Sealife at almost every level of the food chain. But not only marine life is affected by the pollution. Plastic rubbish releases toxic chemicals and these toxins are passed through the food chain. Their health effects have not been thoroughly researched so far.
UNKNOWN THREAT
Researchers say that around 1 billion of seabirds and 100.000 of marine animals die every year because of plastic pollution.
8.300.000.000 TONS OF PLASTIC
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2.6 million tons of this plastic are still in use
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0.8 million tons have been burned
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4.9 million tons of this plastic ended up in landfills or in the oceans
This includes 0.5 million tons that got recycled and after recycling
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just 0.1 million tons are back in use
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0.1 million tons got burned
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and 0.3 million tons ended up in landfills or in the oceans