If successful, their 2030 plan will be four 350 cubic-meter reactors capable of processing 45,000 metric tons of PET plastic ...

In a world drowning in plastic waste, a surprising hero could be emerging: the wax worm. Biologist Federica Bertocchini, co-founder of the startup Plastic Entropy based in Reims, France, is leading ...

The first key step in plastic degradation is to release the spores ... One method uses an enzyme (lipase CA) to erode the plastic surface. These released spores then germinated and expressed ...

Their integrated and automated platform can successfully assess the plastic degradation ability of around 1000 enzyme variants per day. Dr Elizabeth Bell, who led the experimental work at the MIB ...

Around a third is polyethylene, a tough plastic thanks to its structure ... showing that microorganisms can release enzymes that start the degradation process on polyethylene, but the process ...

More information: Susana M. Meza Huaman et al, A general route to retooling hydrolytic enzymes toward plastic degradation, Cell Reports Physical Science (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.101783 ...

That said, the estimated degradation time is significantly less than conventional plastic. A water bottle, for example, takes an estimated 450 years to decompose. The enzyme can also be added to ...

locations with more plastic pollution should have higher levels of enzymes for plastic degradation. This map shows the distribution of plastic pollution across the ocean, with higher ...

First, they chew the plastic into small pieces, called nanoplastics. Then, they secrete a specialized enzyme that breaks down the plastic even further. Finally, the bacteria use a ring of carbon atoms ...

Plastics are widely used but difficult to degrade, posing an ecological challenge. A team from SIAT developed degradable "living plastics" using synthetic biology and polymer engineering.