Growing edible mealworms is affordable, low-resource and space-efficient. The resultant food source is twice as protein efficient as beef (with zero methane emissions). For our proposal, we would like to develop a mealworm protein product made from our plastic-eating mealworms and packaged in our backyard-compostable Chitofilm.
Chitofoam by Charlotte Böhning & Mary Lempres of Doppelgänger
Researches show that solely Americans discard approximately 25 billion styrofoam cups every year, and each of these cups may need half a millennia to degrade. Moreover, regular EPS, of which Styrofoam is the most well-known brand is difficult and uneconomical to recycle, resulting in occupying almost 30% of our landfill waste.
Design duo Doppelgänger created the bioplastic to offer a compostable alternative to traditional expanded polystyrene (EPS).
While polystyrene is made from petroleum-based styrene, which the World Health Organisation has deemed a "probable carcinogen," Chitofoam is derived from a biopolymer called chitin, which mealworms use to build their strong yet pliable exoskeleton.
Doppelgänger says the bioplastic foam could be made from any mealworm – the larval form of the mealworm beetle – or other insect or crustacean with a chitin-rich shell, such as lobsters and beetles.
Böhning and
Lempres made their version from the mealworms living in their own homemade biodigester, which the industrial design students developed to dispose of the polystyrene modelling foam and packaging used in their studio.
This harnesses mealworms' natural ability to digest and break down polystyrene using their gut bacteria, which was documented by researchers from Stanford University in 2015.
Chitofoam by Charlotte Böhning & Mary Lempres of Doppelgänger
In our studio, we began to dispose of our modelling foam and packaging waste in a homemade mealworm bio-digester for depolymerization. As material developers and designers, we began to collect the exoskeletons that our plastic-eating worms shed and extracted a biopolymer gel called chitosan,’ explain the designers. ‘After much development, we created a lightweight, water-resistant, shock-absorbing and backyard-compostable packaging material analogous to styrofoam. We are in the process of pushing our replacement ‘Chitofoam’ further by reimagining packaging and designing more efficient, lattice-structured forms for preserving and protecting products.’
Chitofoam anticipates the future global challenges of food scarcity/insecurity, improper waste management and the build-up of microplastics within our ecosystems. An amazing fact about Styrofoam-eating mealworms is that they are still 100% edible by humans. Mealworm farming has been highlighted in recent years as an environmentally-sustainable solution to malnutrition, particularly in developing rural economies.
