Plastic-eating Enzyme Could Eliminate Billions of Tons of Landfill Waste

An enzyme variant created by engineers and scientists at The University of Texas at Austin can break down environment-throttling plastics that typically take centuries to degrade in just a matter of hours to days.

This discovery, published today in Nature, could help solve one of the world’s most pressing environmental problems: What to do with the billions of tons of plastic waste piling up in landfills and polluting our natural lands and water. The enzyme has the potential to supercharge recycling on a large scale that would allow major industries to reduce their environmental impact by recovering and reusing plastics at the molecular level.

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Follow the Cockrell School:

[Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

A relief to not have the video trying to hammer my head with lousy "music", even though the absolute silence was a bid odd.

[cubeflinger]

Couple of questions. Is it safe to release in the wild? Like everything is plastic. You wouldn't want to be driving along and end up freewheeling it off a cliff because some important insulator was eaten and caused a short. Second question I didn't understand, what is the output, gasses given off and what do you do with the end result? Any liquids?

[interesting]

Stores should add a Returnable cup with this Enzyme that is enough to break down the Plastic bags that are used to pack the materials sold to the Buyers once they go back to their homes.

[sherisselomaquahu]

What ???!!! OMG that is life changing !!!

[ScarlettM]

Does the enzyme produce any dangerous by-products while consuming plastics?

[sergiowerneckdefigueiredo]

Does the PETase enzyme degrade PET and excrete the monomer or other substance?
How is the enzymatic cycle?

[cherylst]

Agree that this video needs much more explanation. What are the by products of the degradation? So it is to be used in the recycling channel?

[sannechino]

As we know microplastics are already a huge problem. This sounds like a fast-track way to microplastics unless of course it is all conducted in a "controlled" environment. Please explain.

[NatickJill]

The video leaves a LOT of unanswered questions. What are the breakdown products? Are they "natural" products that could be used by plants or animals? Or, are they only useful to make more plastics? We need something that breaks down usefully!

[joannot]

the name "PETase" is extremely funny in french, it phonetically sounds like pétasse which is a very nasty insult.
"pétasse is going to save the plastic problem" gold! xD
Edit: on a more serious note, there are a lot of different kinds of plastic, can it be adapted to break down most if not all plastics?

[scientificthinking]

that's amazing news! kudos to the scientists!

[ruggedrick]

Will this be available for public use? (Ex. Plastic "composting" and resale of the result to a wholesaler who buys everyone's compost and resells it to plastics companies for a profit)

While there is the danger that someone will misuse this enzyme, there's also the danger of someone misusing a saw, gun, fire torch, gas, and other such things. People can even misuse a pen or screwdriver as a weapon, so it's probably something to slap a warning on, but that's about it.

Now, if the enzyme doesn't die quickly after eating the plastic, and instead digests other stuff around it, then we have something that could keep growing and destroying and be more akin to a nuke, cancer, or other destructive force.

[sampleoffers]

Dude in article comment section said it only breaks down the flimsy plastics that can already be broken down with chemicals. This sounds good, but that plastic looks a little flimsy...If it leads to more enzymes that recover the oil from thick plastic products, that would be great too. Something in nature eats oil because many go rancid or oxidize. Something has gotta be possible to isolate for that.

[dandelion]

So it just break down bigger plastic into small to micro plastic and they are still plastic? Are these new plastic-eating enzyme or bacteria (and their by-products) safe for human or all living things on earth when they become everywhere? Just a few questions to ponder. I respect and am grateful for scientists and anyone who work hard to help the environment we live in and depend on.

[draconisdragonheart]

Great work. It could finally recycle plastic. 😍😍

[freddyma]

there a 90's movie or tv show episode starting like this, the human develops a bacterium which was supposed to digest the plastic waste of the oceans, which mutates by also devouring the oil

[ninh-jmjg]

i need more informations about the enzymes chart at 1:10

[ScarlettM]

0:38 this would be very impressive if only you showed the parameters of plastic "tray". Maybe it's a millimeter long and it takes 48 hours to "eat" that tiny piece?

[teknerd]

Are their any side effects to the environment as the plastics are consumed?

[russelkiefer]

So on the face of it Brilliant. But what is the life cycle of the enzyme? Does it biodegrade to harmless state unless maintained? What is the output mass/ recycle %? Do you have a neutralising agent? We need our SciFi fears soothed as science has become "for profit at all cost" industry. Even well intentioned breakthroughs need to be properly tested.