The organisms which feed on the waste products are called

Concept

Heterotrophic animals are grouped into nutritional categories according to the kind of organic matter they take in. One of these categories is defined not by hunting or grazing, but by consuming detritus, that is dead plant and animal remains, faecal matter and other organic waste that is no longer living tissue.

Organisms of this category, called detritivores, swallow such waste material as solid particles and fragment it during digestion, so the nutrients locked in it are released back into the soil. This is the recycling arm of a food chain, distinct from the grazing arm that runs from living plants to living animals.

Applying it to this question

The stem describes organisms whose food is the waste products themselves, that is non-living organic residue. That is exactly the defining criterion of the detritivore category, so the term asked for is detritivores. Earthworms, millipedes, woodlice and dung beetles are the standard textbook examples.

Contrasting the other feeding categories

• Carnivores are defined by feeding on the flesh of other animals, which is living tissue taken as prey, not waste residue.

• Herbivores are defined by feeding on living plant material such as leaves, stems, fruits and seeds, again living tissue rather than waste residue.

• Chemovore is not the term biology uses; organisms that draw energy from inorganic chemicals are chemotrophs, and they build their own food from that chemical energy instead of eating organic waste.

Hence the organisms that feed on waste products and other dead organic matter are detritivores.