Plastic made by a bee, not a petrochemical, could provide answers to long-standing issues around ecological concerns raised by the extremely long lifespan the material has after use.
Researchers at Virginia Tech and the University of Tennessee have found the material created by a species of ground-dwelling bee to line its nest is a natural polyester very similar to polyethylene -- a common type of plastic used in single-use packaging and many other uses. The bee's plastic, however, biodegrades rapidly in soil in normal environmental conditions.
In a paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , researchers noted the degradation of polyester content in soil samples fell from 73 percent to just 40 percent in only four months.
Lead author Jonathan Coote , assistant professor in the Department of Sustainable Biomaterials in the College of Natural Resources and Environment at Virginia Tech, said this substance could unlock a more sustainable solution to the downstream ecological effects caused by continued manufacture of millions of tons of polyethylene.
"This is a polyester that mimics polyethylene," Coote said.
Why it matters:
- Polyethylene makes up roughly one-third of the world's annual plastic production, nearly 160 million tons annually
- Conventional polyethylene can remain in the environment for centuries and, even when they break down, can last as microplastics that leach into groundwater and then spread throughout an ecosystem.
- Many plastics marketed as biodegradable break down slowly or only under specific industrial conditions.
The species, colletes inaequalis, is a ground dweller that does not make hives or gather in swarms.
The polyester made by the bee is similar to polyethylene used to make millions of tons of single-use plastic packaging that lasts for decades after its use.
Researchers are working to determine the chemical structure of the bee's natural polyester that allows it to biodegrade so rapidly.
"The goal is to be able to answer that and then engineer it into something that we can make at scale," Coote said, noting that industry would replicate the process, rather than rely on bees themselves. "I don't see a future where we have these massive bee farms making all of our plastic products."
The study is the result of a multi-year collaboration with Laura Russo, an associate professor at the University of Tennessee, who works with bees as an ecologist and evolutionary biologist. She knew the colletes inaequalis species created its own polyethylene-like material, which she shared with Coote when he was a doctoral student at Tennessee.
Specializing in the chemistry of plastics and efforts to make them more eco-friendly, Coote studied the bee polyester as a side project while working as a postdoc at the University of Minnesota.
After joining the faculty at Virginia Tech in 2025, Coote focused his research on the natural plastics made by bees.
Original study : DOI.10.1073/pnas.2607098123
