Imagine drinking a drink from a plastic bottle, putting it in the compost and within a month, it completely dissapear. Thanks to Chinese scientists, this could become a reality in the future.
In a world where we see piles of plastic at every turn - sanitary and wild landfills, in cities and forests, even as it floats on the ocean in the form of the Great Pacific Garbage Carpet - this kind of plastic bottle seems like an ambitious, idealistic idea of a utopian.
However, such plastic is a step closer to reality. And the key to its accelerated disintegration lies in the fact that it contains "the seeds of its own destruction", the portal writes Climate 101.
Bacteria that eat waste
Science has long known that certain bacteria eat plastic waste, preventing it from persisting in the environment. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences harnessed the spores of those bacteria, embedding them in a tough plastic that remains intact until the spores revive.
In their experiment, scientists from China used Bacillus subtilis bacteria that had been modified to secrete a plastic-degrading enzyme known as lipase BC. They exposed it to stress, i.e. heavy metal ions, after which the microbes formed spores.
The resulting spores were then mixed with beads of biodegradable PCL (polycaprolactone) plastic. The mixture is finally melted and molded to produce pieces of solid material.
In tests, during daily use, this "living plastic" proved to be a regular PCL.
But when its surface came into contact with a certain enzyme, the spores trapped inside would come to life and begin to secrete lipase BC, degrading the plastic in just six to seven days.
Reviving spores also occurs during composting. Samples of the material placed in the soil would decompose in between 25 and 30 days. This is faster than other types of biodegradable plastics where this process can take almost twice as long.
One of the possible solutions
Although the study published in the scientific journal Nature Chemical Biology only proved the concept, plastic with bacteria could be one of the interesting solutions to the growing pollution.
Plastic production has been growing rapidly in recent decades, and it remains unknown how much waste harms our environment, and its effects on health, primarily in the form of microplastics, remain little researched.
A team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences hopes their work will inspire the invention of sustainable, biodegradable materials that won't pollute the planet for centuries after just one use, reports Science Alert.
