🔎 What’s going on?
Scientists have discovered new germs (a type of bacteria) that can eat toxic plastics.
🐛Cool, tell me more!
Recently discovered bacteria in waste sites have been feasting on a different type of plastic, polyurethane. Insulation foams and fibres are usually made from polyurethane. Polyurethane is different from polyethene (or PET which is used to make water bottles, food and personal care packaging) in many ways, but the most important difference is its toxicity when it breaks down at the end of its life.
A new strain of bacteria, Pseudomonas bacteria actually is able to eat the toxic plastic and grow - with just energy, carbon and nitrogen.
❓Why should I care?
There are more than 8 billion tonnes of plastic in the world since the 1950s and the majority of it has ended up in landfills or our lands and oceans. 3.5 million of that is polyurethane which is really hard to recycle currently - it requires complex methods of chemical and mechanical recycling. This new biological method of breaking down toxic plastic is a breakthrough. It will still take at least a decade before this novel method can be deployed at a large scale.
🚦 Where do we need to be?
Even though this is an exciting discovery and provides a solution for breaking down toxic plastic. The best solution still remains the same - we should not pollute the environment with plastic. In 2018, scientists accidentally created a type of bacteria that can break down polyethene (PET) which is equally promising because there is more PET out in the world than polyurethane. We also wrote about bacteria which can eat carbon dioxide.
👤What can I do about it?
As an individual, avoid single-use plastics as much as possible. Instead, use reusable water bottles, coffee keep cups, glass/stainless steel Tupperware to store food. Take grocery bags to the supermarket instead of plastic bags.
As a government, ban single-use plastics in your countries and promote alternatives such as bioplastic and biodegradable materials.