Tasty, tasty plastic

Scientists have improved a naturally occurring enzyme which can digest some of our most commonly polluting plastics. PET, the strong plastic commonly used in bottles, takes hundreds of years to break down in the environment. The modified enzyme, known as PETase, can start breaking down the same material in just a few days.This could revolutionise the recycling process, allowing plastics to be re-used more effectively.

Polyesters, industrially produced from petroleum, are widely used in plastic bottles and clothing. Current recycling processes mean that polyester materials follow a downward quality spiral, losing some of their properties each time they go through the cycle. Bottles become fleeces, then carpets, after which they often end up in landfill. PETase reverses the manufacturing process, reducing polyesters to their building blocks, ready to be used again.

"They could be used to make more plastic and that would avoid using any more oil...Then basically we'd close the loop. We'd actually have proper recycling," explained Prof McGeehan. The enzyme is a number of years away from being deployed on a widespread scale. It will need to degrade PET faster than its current time of a few days before becoming economically viable as part of the recycling landscape.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-43783631