Plastic Eating Bacteria
It’s no secret that plastic is bad for the environment, particularly the ocean, but what is being done in this war against it? People are finding non-plastic alternatives for everyday products such as the plastic straw and new, more environmentally friendly ways of making plastic are being done wherever possible. What you may not know is that scientists have remarkably found a plastic eating bacteria, a revolutionary weapon in the ongoing fight to save our planet. But what is it? How does it work? How is it made and is it cutting down on pollution? Let’s find out.
Plastic Eating Bacteria: Why is it so necessary?
Plastic Eating Bacteria
You of course know that plastic is bad for the environment but do you know why? Why is this plastic eating bacteria so needed?
The production of plastic is highly unsustainable using crude oil, coal, or natural gases. This manufacturing process itself is terrible for the planet, and the resulting plastics are not all recyclable. Moreover, the recyclable plastic types are not 100% recyclable, so new plastic still needs to be produced to make a new product from the old plastic.
Plastic takes a very long time to degrade and in doing so leaches deadly toxins into the environment. Standard plastics are not compostable and can sometimes take 1,000 years or more to decompose on a landfill.
Plastic is harming our wildlife. Animals consume plastic, believing it to be food, or get caught up in pieces of it. This often results in injury or death. Sea creatures are particularly at risk, and turtles are known to choke on plastic bags which they mistake for jellyfish.
Plastic Eating Bacteria: How was it discovered?
In 2016, a team of scientists discovered an enzyme capable of breaking down PET, the material used to make plastic bottles. This remarkable albeit accidental breakthrough was done by looking at organisms that had evolved at a waste dump in Japan. Through analyzing how this process had occurred, the scientists inadvertently altered something that turned the molecule into a plastic eating machine. This bacteria has been given the name Ideonella sakaiensis 201-F6.
Plastic Eating Bacteria: What does it do?
Plastics are polymers, which means they are long, repeating chains of molecules that don’t dissolve in water. The strength of these chains makes plastic very durable and means it takes a very long time for them to decompose naturally. If they could be broken down into their smaller, soluble chemical units, then these building blocks could be harvested and recycled to form new plastics.
A leading researcher in plastic eating bacteria, Dr. Hermann J. Heipieper, explains how it all works. In short, the bacteria takes the building blocks for PU (a plastic used for items like sports shoes, mechanical parts, and synthetic fibers, like Spandex), and then uses them as a source of energy.
Plastic Eating Bacteria: Is it cutting down pollution levels?
Sian Sutherland, the co-founder of an anti-plastic campaign group A Plastic Planet, said that “The world has produced 9 billion tons of plastic over the past 60 years [and] only 7% has been recycled, 12% has been incinerated. So that gives you an idea of the scale of the problem of how much plastic is languishing in our environment right now.”
The key to cutting down pollution levels lies not just in finding non-plastic alternatives, but also in the recycling of plastic itself. At the Centre for Enzyme Innovation at Portsmouth University (on the south coast of England), a new breakthrough has been made in the form of biochemical catalysts which can be harnessed to help fight against environmental problems, among other problems.
Rosie Graham, a member of the research team at Portsmouth explained that “Traditional recycling involves grounding, shredding and melting the plastic and turning it into an inferior material” and this is very energy-intensive. She went on to say that they are looking at a way of using enzymes to break down the plastic naturally using much less energy and producing more valuable materials.” This new super-enzyme breaks down plastic six times quicker than the bacteria found in the original discovery. This is undeniably a huge step in the ongoing war against plastic and is already being shown to reduce pollution levels around recycling!
Plastic Eating Bacteria: Is it the solution to ocean pollution?
Did you know that 40% of the plastic produced worldwide is used for packaging and only around 10% of it is recycled? The rest of it can end up in the ocean, causing major damage to coral reefs and the many animals that call the ocean their home. Is this plastic eating bacteria the solution to our ocean pollution? Scientists explain that while this super-enzyme is a step in the right direction, much more work needs to be done before significant improvements are made in the ocean. There is so much more that needs to be understood about the complex relationships between plastics and marine ecosystems before we can take drastic action.
By spraying this super-enzyme into the ocean, all kinds of unassessed hazards could come into play. Historically, such interventions have introduced major side effects, which means this time around, we need to take things slower. Moreover, plastics today are even more deadly than they used to be, thanks to their ability to absorb highly toxic persistent pollutants such as PCBs. With the marine ecosystem already in such a delicate state, we need to be 100% that this plastic eating bacteria does what it says on the tin.
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