Are we using plastic eating bacteria?

In 2018 scientists in the U.K. and U.S. modified bacteria so that they could begin breaking down plastic in a matter of days. In October 2020 the process was improved further by combining the two different plastic-eating enzymes that the bacteria produced into one “super enzyme.”

Can bacteria break down plastic yes or no?

Plastics are not organic matter and it is difficult to break them down into their constituents materials. Hence, it is difficult for bacteria to break down plastics.

How is plastic pollution affecting the world?

Plastics pollution has a direct and deadly effect on wildlife. Thousands of seabirds and sea turtles, seals and other marine mammals are killed each year after ingesting plastic or getting entangled in it.

Could this bacteria help solve the plastic pollution problem?

Scientists have supercharged how a plastic-eating bacteria gobbles up plastic – and it could help solve the pollution problem. The bacteria was found in 2016 but now scientists have taken what it does and made it work much faster.

Are plastic-eating bacteria the saviours of the planet?

They named the new species of bacteria Ideonella sakaiensis. You may think this is the rerun of an old story, as plastic-eating microbes have already been touted as saviours of the planet.

Is evolution already working on plastic-eating microorganisms?

Still, recent discoveries of plastic-eating microorganisms show that evolution is already getting to work. A year after the 2016 discovery of Ideonella sakaiensis in Osaka, scientists reported a fungus able to degrade plastic at a waste disposal site in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Is it possible to eat plastic?

It’s one of the key reasons why the mounting plastic pollution problem, which is having a deadly effect on marine life, is so serious. But scientists recently discovered a strain of bacteria that can literally eat the plastic used to make bottles, and have now improved it to make it work faster.