2 . Styrofoam is plastic     1     a bad reputation.

It cannot be recycled without releasing (释放) dangerous pollutants into the air. The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency     2     (say) it is the fifth largest creator of dangerous waste.

Scientists from the U. S. and China have discovered that mealworms can digest plastic. One mealworm can digest a pill-sized amount of plastic a day.

Study co-author Wei-Min Wu says that in 24 hours, the plastic     3    (turn) into carbon dioxide.

Are the worms hurt by     4    (eat) plastic? The study found that worms eating Styrofoam were as     5     (health) as worms eating bran (糠).

Styrofoam is a lightweight material, about 95 percent air, with very good insulation properties (绝缘性), according to Earthsource.org. It is used in products from     6     (cup) that keep your drinks hot or cold to packaging materials     7     protect items during shipping.

“Solving     8     problem of plastic pollution is important. Landfill space is becoming limited,” says Wu, a Stanford University environmental engineering instructor.

About 33 million tons of plastic are thrown away in the United States every year. Plastic plates, cups and containers take     9     25 percent to 30 percent of space in America’s landfills. One Styrofoam cup takes more than 1 million years     10     (recycle) in a landfill, according to Cleveland State University.