This Mutant Super-Enzyme Can Eat Plastic Waste Within Days
Researchers have re-engineered a plastic-eating enzyme to degrade plastic bottles within days — and it might be ready to start eating our trash as soon as next year.
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The impacts of plastic pollution continue to be felt worldwide as we continue to struggle to find an impactful way to break down the convenient material.
But single-use plastics might have finally met their match.
A recent breakthrough that builds off of plastic-eating bugs discovered in 2016 might be able to enable full recycling of plastic products. The recent plastic-devouring development comes in the form of a super-enzyme derived from bacteria that naturally evolved the ability to eat plastic. The super-enzyme in question breaks down plastic bottles six times faster than before!
Find out more about how this plastic-eating marvel came to be in this Elements.
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