Plastic Eating Enzymes?
As reported by the Guardian.com, "A million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute and the number will jump another 20% by 2021, creating an environmental crisis some campaigners predict will be as serious as climate change." Indeed, we've all heard about PET plastic being a huge issue, and in particular its format in plastic bottles. Yet now there is some real hope on the horizon. In an article titled "Scientists engineer plastics-eating enzyme" and published by PlasticNews.com on April 17, 2018, the lead paragraphs state:[su_quote]Researchers in the United States and England have engineered an enzyme that could help solve the problem of PET bottle litter.The breakthrough is the latest in a series of tantalizing research results hinting that certain enzymes and microbes that use them might pave a way to degrade mountains of plastics scrap.[/su_quote]See this video from The Guardian:Read more about this incredibly exciting development in the PlasticNews.com article here.Header Image Details and Credit: Electron microscope photos of enzyme/substrate interactions. Credit: Dennis Schroeder / NREL. See this additional, greatly-detailed article that goes deeper into the science behind this breakthrough enzyme in this Phys.org article.