I strolled upon this by accident: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/caterpillar-eat-plastic-1.4084672 Waste management is not a big area of knowledge for me so I can only speculate on the potential. But, if caterpillar poo-poo could be used as rocket fuel that could be... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
http://www.carolina.com/other-moths/greater-wax-moth-larvae-galleria-mellonella-living/143928.pr The key is that it breaks polyethylene all the way down to ethylene glycol. That's huge. Nothing does that, afaik - almost certainly there's a bacterium or two involved, and the genetic engineers will have a target.
An indication of what is probably assumed anyway, that the bacteria involved are the real prize: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25384056 These other worms don't do as good or fast a job, and such bacterial strains are likely to be species specific anyway - so it's the latest species of wax worm that is most exciting, for its likelihood of harboring superior bacterial flora (fauna?). We don't want to breed billions of the moths themselves, or their larvae - they trash honeybee hives, and there's too much of that going on in the world as is. Oddly, this latest discovery appears to have been accidental. Apparently some people have known for years now that some species of wax worm harbor bacteria that eat polyethylene - but the rest of the species were not immediately checked? The word didn't get around, even in the thin world of wax worm and bee research?
I think some researches have genetically engineered bacteria to break down plastic, however, it proved expensive.
I had some summer field experience in the Michgan UP several years ago, during which we observed that grasshoppers were devouring the plastic (yellow and orange) flagging attached to our survey stakes. We concluded that since insects tend to see targets (food and other) best in UV - as per similar conclusions re: flower colors - the little buggers were likely seeing the plastic flagging as a food source. I guess one might say certain colored plastics are a a good weight-loss diet for grasshoppers.
Does the finding was digestion on bees wax ? Beeswax in a diester which is not to difficult to break down , which to different then polyethylene.
The flip side: it's a hard trick to learn or do, but it's possible - the first to swing it will be in fat city, and Western civilization will be in big trouble. My money is on a modified lichen.
Of a fast reproducing and aerosol spreading organism learning to eat plastic? Oh, I dunno - just get a feeling of likely doom.