Plastic Eating Bacteria

With the recent pollution of our Sri Lankan coast with plastic pellets from the ship MV X-Press Pearl, and with pollution of plastic bags and bottles over many years, it no doubt that non-degradable plastics has always caused concern to marine animals and plants.

Recycling plastics and proper disposal of wastage can reduce some of these effects. But a proper breakdown of plastics into their chemical constituents has been difficult, therefore, to make new ones from old plastics.

A major breakthrough happened when scientists in Japan in 2016 discovered marine bacteria that had the ability to degrade a particular type of plastics called PET. You heard me right, they discovered Plastic eating Bacteria!!! These bacteria, Ideonella sakaiensis, were able to degrade PET plastics from which most bottles are made. Imagine what this could mean! With more research underway, there could be a time when these bacteria could be used to break down plastic on an industrial scale!

Enzyme PETase isolated from these bacteria took 6 weeks to break down low crystalline PET sample. Much work has been done since then to improve the ability of these enzymes. In 2018, UK scientists modified the structure of PET hydrolase and increased the speed at which it worked. In April 2020, the French Company Carbios modified an enzyme that could degrade 90% of PET in 10 hours with a temperature above 70⁰C.In October 2020, UK scientists combined two enzymes to make a more efficient new super enzyme that can work at room temperature.

Let's hope that this research would eventually reach the industrial level, reduce the effects of plastic pollution and save our Earth.