Can Plastic Eating Enzymes Solve Our Global Plastic Waste Problem?
Source - Google
In 2020, 367 metric tonnes of plastic was produced globally. The seas absorb more than 10 million tonnes of plastic every year.
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Plastic manufacturing also releases greenhouse gasses that contribute to global warming. A 2021 report found that the US plastic industry alone releases 232 m tonnes of greenhouse gas every year, the equivalent of 116 coal- fired power plants.
Source - Google
In 2016 researchers led by micro-biologist Kohei Oda of the Kyoto Institute of Technology in Japan reported a surprise discovery.
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It found a new strain of bacterium called Ideonella Sakaienns (I S) 201 -F6. This microbe could grow on pieces of polyethylene terephthalate (P E T).
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Oda’s team reported that bacteria could use PET as its main source of nutrients, degrading the PET in the process.
Source - Google
The key to this ability was a pair of enzymes made by the bacteria. IS 201-F6 produces two unique enzymes.
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The first is a PETase that makes the long PET molecules drown into smaller molecules called MHET. A second enzyme called MHETase then goes to work, producing ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid.
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The second enzyme called MHETase then goes to work, producing ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid.
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These two chemicals are the building blocks of PET so that IS 201-F6 can completely reverse the manufacturing process that made PET.
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The advantage of these enzymes is that they break down the plastic at the molecular level.
Source - Google
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Source - Google