6 votes

Scientists isolate bacterial enzyme that rapidly breaks down plastic polymers into recyclable components

Posted by patience_limited
Tags: chemistry.bio, polymers, recycling, plastics, scientists, enzymes.bacterial, materials, author.damian carrington, source.the guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/08/scientists-create-mutant-enzyme-that-recycles-plastic-bottles-in-hours

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Title
Scientists create mutant enzyme that recycles plastic bottles in hours
Authors
Damian Carrington
Published
Apr 8 2020
Word count
667 words

3 comments

  1. [2]
    twisterghost
    Link
    Here's hoping it takes. Especially in the USA, recycling is falling apart. If we reached a place where injecting new plastic into the system is not as cheap as reusing plastic, we'd be better off....

    It said the cost of the enzyme was just 4% of the cost of virgin plastic made from oil.

    Here's hoping it takes. Especially in the USA, recycling is falling apart. If we reached a place where injecting new plastic into the system is not as cheap as reusing plastic, we'd be better off.

    Of course, if we could get to a place where corporate greed didn't decide that environmental destruction is worth saving a few cents per bottle, we'd be better off too.

    4 votes
    1. patience_limited
      Link Parent
      I wish I was more hopeful about this. Plastics manufacturing has only been a minor fossil fuel price support (about 4% of total consumption, as raw material and energy for production) as of the...

      I wish I was more hopeful about this. Plastics manufacturing has only been a minor fossil fuel price support (about 4% of total consumption, as raw material and energy for production) as of the last reliable data. Maybe green marketing will triumph over ridiculously cheap oil and gas.

  2. patience_limited
    Link
    This is great news. More details here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2149-4 (paywalled) Some bacteria and fungi are capable of digesting relatively inert plastic polymers like PET...

    This is great news. More details here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2149-4 (paywalled)

    Some bacteria and fungi are capable of digesting relatively inert plastic polymers like PET into reusable monomers. To date, this hasn't been a commercially viable recycling solution because the process takes weeks to months. Otherwise, recycling PET requires lots of energy expenditure for high-temperature chemistry, and provides relatively low uncontaminated yields.

    If the numbers in the paper are correct, the new enzyme process is a huge advance.

    1 vote