Could This Type of Plastic-eating Bacteria Reduce Our Impact On The Environment? - Ideonella Sakaiensis

A fairly recent discovery by a group of scientists from Kyoto University may have far-reaching implications on the massive amounts of waste we create as a civilization. To put it simply, these Japanese scientists have uncovered micro bacteria that feeds on a widely used type of plastic, which can be found in bottles and items of clothing.

The type of plastic we refer to is PET, an abbreviation of polyethylene terephthalate and this new bacteria was found at the end of five years of research, which involved about 250 samples. The new plastic-eating bacteria has been named Ideonella sakaiensis and has the potential to make plastic truly biodegradable.

By what measure does this constitute a groundbreaking discovery?

It's not the first time microbes that feed on plastic have been indicated as the potential saviours of the planet but it's important to remark we have every reason to believe this time we could be right in this assumption.

The first reports involved a highly difficult to cultivate fungi, whereas the new Ideonella sakaiensis could be easily grown. The PET was left in a jar for a few weeks a culture of these bacteria and in just a few weeks there was absolutely no trace of the plastic.

In addition, the truly innovative factor behind this discovery lies in the enzymes that the newly discovered bacteria rely on to break down the plastic.

The research team has successfully isolated the gene that can be associated with the specific enzyme that allows the bacteria to digest plastic. From this point, they were able to replicate the enzyme and verify that it alone could be made to digest the polyethylene terephthalate material.

How can this affect our waste-disposal methodology?

This revolutionary event opens a whole new paradigm of plastic disposal and recycling. Right now, most PET materials are reformed into other materials in an endless cycle. Most businesses in the packaging industry have a predilection for "new plastic", which is created from oil-based chemicals.

Needless to say, this new enzyme offers a completely new way to break this cycle and reduce our carbon footprint as it could be used to derive easily manageable chemicals from tonnes of waste. These could then be used to produce new plastic, in what could truly be referred as a system of recycling.

This wouldn't be the first time our civilization would rely on "man-made" enzymes, as some washing products are comprised of enzymes that specifically target the fat in stains. Enzymes are also used to harden cheese so, given this range of uses enzymes are involved in, it's not unreasonable to envisage a scenario where we incorporate them in our recycling efforts.

Why does this matter?

This is particularly pertinent as our civilization produces in excess of 300 million tonnes of plastics every year. As part of our manufacturing process, these plastics are built to last with the environmental repercussions known to us all in streets, fields and particularly the ocean.

However, they are not biodegradable as bacteria and fungi have evolved with natural elements and therefore developed the necessary processes to survive on those materials. As plastic has only been around for seven decades, these organisms haven't had the time to learn how to break up the elements that make up plastic, in order to use their chemicals as energy and food to endure, grow and multiply.

This type of plastic-eating bacteria could help our species reduce the massive carbon footprint we insist on increasing year after year. This is particularly pertinent, as most plastics are constituted by groupings of carbon-based monomers known as polymers, making it theoretically plausible to assume they could be a source of food for microorganisms.