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Comment by kangnkodos | Hacker News Reader

What exactly comes out the other end? Small pieces of plastic?

"The analysis showed the worms transformed the polyethylene into ethylene glycol, representing un-bonded 'monomer' molecules."

Moderately toxic, but breaks down in the air in about 10 days. Used in antifreeze.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylene_glycol

It's a precursor of polyester. Perhaps polyethilene can be recycled into polyester?

"it breaks down in air in about ten days, and in water or soil in a few weeks."

That is probably the best bit.

Interesting... is this why I've never heard any issues with the amount of windshield washer fluid that is used? I got through many litres every winter.

Probably. The primary complaint I've heard about ethylene glycol is that it smells sweet and it's poisonous, so it attracts animals (esp. dogs and cats) and kills them. It's not highly concentrated in windshield washer fluid, but it is in engine coolant, so sometimes people would leave it out and their dog would drink it and die (and the death was awful IIRC due to the way the poison worked). Years ago, there were some alternative antifreezes offered which used propylene glycol instead: it doesn't attract animals the same way, and has nearly the same (but not quite) antifreeze performance. It seems to have died out though.

It kills people too. Kids, adults poisoning others (or themselves). Bad stuff, better keep it locked away.

Kills people = bad stuff, keep it locked away is a pretty dangerous, slippery slope.

How so? Sweet smelling liquids that kill and children are not compatible in the same space. That's a pretty good reason to keep your various cleaning stuff out of the reach of toddlers whose need to experiment exceeds their capability to understand.

True, but isn't this basic common sense? We do exactly the same with other poisonous chemicals in the house: drain cleaner, etc. Of course, most of them aren't sweet-smelling like antifreeze, but you also don't use antifreeze in the house, only in the car.

I think the real problem with antifreeze is when people drain their radiators at home and then leave the old antifreeze out, either because they're too lazy to put it in a sealed container right away, or because they're letting it evaporate instead of figuring out how to dispose of it properly. Then, usually, some animal comes across it (and is attracted by the smell).

I don't think it was meant that the government should lock it away, but rather that people using such toxins for legitimate purposes should take basic precautions.

I knew about the poisonous aspects, but wasn't sure about the environmental concerns.

I've read that if your dog (or child etc) does drink antifreeze or washer fluid, you are supposed to give them vodka as you rush them to the hospital. It will stop the effects of ethylene glycol (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylene_glycol_poisoning under Antidote section)

> windshield washer fluid that is used? I got through many litres every winter

You must be Canadian ;) I'm an expat of sorts and once went on a ski trip (from New Jersey to Mont Tremblant in Quebec) with a friend and his parents in January many years ago.

Long story short, we discovered shortly after hitting an ice storm (and finding the wiper fluid reservoir empty) in upstate New York that the wiper fluid reservoir in the car had a large crack in it such that after filling it would only work for about 5 minutes.

This ended up requiring someone to manually fill a cup with wiper fluid and throw it out the window onto the windshield every few minutes for several hours. That being a terribly inefficient delivery system, we went through many litres in one trip!

Not the most fun road trip I've ever been on, but the skiing was great when we (eventually) got there!

Plastics are mostly fairly simple molecules but long chains. I wonder how many variants these worms can eat?

Reading the article it says that it turns the plastic into Ethelene glycol.

Plasturds(tm)

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