(FORTUNE Magazine) – West Germans just loved those East German Trabants when the pollution-spilling cars first swarmed across the border after the Berlin Wall came down. Some onlookers even bestowed friendly pats on the quaint little vehicles' roofs as they chugged by. These days Germany wonders how to get rid of these all-too- enduring autos. Production ceased in May, and many former East Germans are buying Volkswagens and junking their Trabis. But the cars' duroplastic bodies can't be recycled, landfill space is hard to find, and burning them creates noxious gases. And some two million Trabis are still on the road. Enter IFZ Biotechnology Research & Development of what was East Berlin. IFZ scientists believe that a species of microorganism can be put to use devouring the Trabi remains. IFZ chemist Franz Weissbach says such organisms live in garbage dumps and could be introduced to Trabi junkyards, where they would keep eating -- and breed prolifically. How long for them to swallow a Trabi? Scientists won't speculate. The cost to put the microbes in place: an estimated $860,000. Germany, facing some $80 billion in unification bills, might be loath to spend that. And maybe it shouldn't. Peter Ziegler, a director of the Battelle Institute, a Frankfurt research group, concedes that the project is scientifically possible. But, he adds, ''my question would be on the toxicology. Can the microbes multiply out of control?'' Stand by for the sequel -- Revenge of the Trabi Eaters.