"The first bug that eats plastic was discovered in a Japanese waste dump in 2016. Scientists then tweaked it in 2018 to try to learn more about how it evolved, but inadvertently created an enzyme that was even better at breaking down plastic bottles. Further tweaks in 2020 increased the speed of degradation sixfold.
Another mutant enzyme was created in 2020 by the company Carbios that breaks down plastic bottles for recycling in hours. German scientists have also discovered a bacterium that feeds on the toxic plastic polyurethane, which is usually dumped in landfills."
Would love to see the timeline and capacity plotted on a chart. I wonder how much we need to make it practical. 6x increase in 2 years but did we go from decades to years?
Hours on bottles sounds like we are getting there in speed but how much bacteria, and how quickly do they multiply and what do they do once they are done? I am asking because breaking bottles down in hours doesn't sound "promising", it sounds like we are there. Just pour that on the plastic island in the ocean! If we cannot, there must be something else going on that prevents us.
Another mutant enzyme was created in 2020 by the company Carbios that breaks down plastic bottles for recycling in hours. German scientists have also discovered a bacterium that feeds on the toxic plastic polyurethane, which is usually dumped in landfills."
Would love to see the timeline and capacity plotted on a chart. I wonder how much we need to make it practical. 6x increase in 2 years but did we go from decades to years?
Hours on bottles sounds like we are getting there in speed but how much bacteria, and how quickly do they multiply and what do they do once they are done? I am asking because breaking bottles down in hours doesn't sound "promising", it sounds like we are there. Just pour that on the plastic island in the ocean! If we cannot, there must be something else going on that prevents us.