Kenyan scientists have discovered that a native mealworm can eat and break down polystyrene - a breakthrough that could help tackle the continent's growing plastic waste crisis.

A research team in Kenya found that larvae of the lesser mealworm - a beetle species from the Alphitobius genus - can consume the widely used packaging material when combined with other nutrients.

Polystyrene is a plastic material widely used in food, electronic and industrial packaging, and is difficult to break down.

The discovery was made by researchers led by Fathiya Mbarak Khamis, a senior scientist with the Plant Health Theme, at the Icipe research centre in Duduville, near Nairobi.

The team had been studying insects as potential food sources.

Khamis told RFI the team unexpectedly spotted the insect in their chicken coop litter. It resembled the yellow mealworm found in Europe and the United States, already known to eat plastic.

"We identified it using molecular tools, and, since it is a close relative of the yellow mealworm, we decided to test if it could feed on plastic," Khamis said.

To confirm their theory, the researchers fed the larvae on three different diets over a month-long trial: polystyrene alone, bran alone, and a mixture of both.

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So are the worms actually "eating" the plastic?