One word: enzymatics!

May 4, 2022 11:56 PM

Scientists Discover Method to Break Down Plastic in Days, Not Centuries - "Scientists modified an enzyme that can break down plastic in one week to create fresh material for new products."[1,2,3]

The US only recycled about 5% of plastic waste last year - "A new report highlights recycling's failure to keep up with growing volumes of plastic trash."

also btw...
Bacterial Enzyme Converts CO2 Into Carbon Compounds 20x Faster Than Photosynthesis - "Researchers discover that a spot of molecular glue and a timely twist help a bacterial enzyme convert carbon dioxide into carbon compounds 20 times faster than plant enzymes do during photosynthesis. The results stand to accelerate progress toward converting carbon dioxide into a variety of products."

posted by kliuless (31 comments total)

Sounds very cool, but the cynic in me (which is probably most of me) wonders why this won't work: cost, scaling, more research needed, logistics, etc. We are always on the verge of Figuring It Out, only to run up against reality.
posted by zardoz at 12:14 AM on May 5, 2022 [12 favorites]

I also saw this covered by Just Have a Think: "Plastic eating enzymes just got even better! New breakthrough." The step forward from the original is that the waste materials from the original 2016 discovery can also be processed into useful products - and that the speed of the action has been sped up.
posted by rongorongo at 12:37 AM on May 5, 2022 [5 favorites]

This is going to be great until other bacteria copy the enzyme and all my plastic stuff starts to melt
posted by Green Winnebago at 1:33 AM on May 5, 2022 [44 favorites]

This is going to be great until other bacteria copy the enzyme and all my plastic stuff starts to melt

Exactly my thought. Yay horizontal gene transfer!

But let's be honest, would that really be that bad, depending on the speed in which it happens? We could use an incentive to make less plastic.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 1:51 AM on May 5, 2022 [23 favorites]

It seems something like this crops up every once in a while and then nothing ever comes of it - hopefully this will be different.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 2:00 AM on May 5, 2022 [7 favorites]

Yay horizontal gene transfer!

ALL HAIL THE NEW FLESH
posted by Meatbomb at 2:48 AM on May 5, 2022 [25 favorites]

The actual paper.
posted by Orange Pamplemousse at 3:03 AM on May 5, 2022 [16 favorites]

> This is going to be great until other bacteria copy the enzyme and all my plastic stuff starts to melt
Exactly my thought. Yay horizontal gene transfer!
But let's be honest, would that really be that bad, depending on the speed in which it happens?

Yes, as per a novel written fifty years ago.
posted by Major Clanger at 3:27 AM on May 5, 2022 [13 favorites]

This is going to be great until other bacteria copy the enzyme and all my plastic stuff starts to melt
Exactly my thought. Yay horizontal gene transfer!
But let's be honest, would that really be that bad, depending on the speed in which it happens?
Yes, as per a novel written fifty years ago.

But this is the dumbest timeline, so maybe instead of a 50 year old novel we get a 40 year old movie
posted by otherchaz at 3:42 AM on May 5, 2022 [6 favorites]

In 50 years' time, the only surviving exemplars of technological artefacts of the plastic era may be ones which had been rebuilt at great effort with non-plastic components; we may see GameBoys in CNC-milled wooden cases or something.
posted by acb at 4:25 AM on May 5, 2022 [5 favorites]

Boxypixel will gladly sell you a CNC milled aluminum shell for your gameboy. And I know I've seen glass screen protectors out there, too. The rubber dome buttons might be a problem, but I'm pretty sure I've seen people replace those with tact switches (ew).

I mean, it still leaves a lot of stuff that's plastic-adjacent in the screen and batteries, but the preservationist retrogaming crowd is already there.
posted by Kyol at 5:17 AM on May 5, 2022 [3 favorites]

You guys know we still build stuff out of wood, right? The technology to rapidly disintegrate that stuff was developed around 300 million years ago at the end of the Carboniferous era, and it's ubiquitous across the world too. Yet somehow my table and chair are not melting as I sit.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:39 AM on May 5, 2022 [35 favorites]

But let's be honest, would that really be that bad, depending on the speed in which it happens? We could use an incentive to make less plastic.

I agree, but it would be bad if medical plastic started melting. Honestly, I don't know much about this stuff so maybe that's a ridiculous thought.

I do like the strangeness of human endeavors, though, how we have to create things to ameliorate the things we previously created.
posted by tiny frying pan at 5:47 AM on May 5, 2022 [6 favorites]

we have to create things to ameliorate the things we previously created.

Freeman Dyson said he wasn't worried about climate change because he was sure humans would figure out a new technology to counter it.
posted by Obscure Reference at 5:54 AM on May 5, 2022

as per a novel written fifty years ago.
posted by Major Clanger

Available on Amazon for Kindle, $2.99. Time to read it again and see if it holds up. As a teen some of the scenarios were chilling to read.
posted by Splunge at 5:54 AM on May 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

wasn't worried about climate change because he was sure humans would figure out a new technology to counter it.

Unfortunately, that is a real stretch. Already too late for climate change.
posted by tiny frying pan at 5:57 AM on May 5, 2022

Bacteria might copy the enzyme, or they might evolve it themselves. I don't think they're likely to copy it when it's just being spread around as an enzyme.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 6:07 AM on May 5, 2022

Nice title!

Plastic eating microbes were also a plot point at the end of The Andromeda Strain, although the book and movie handled it differently.
posted by TedW at 7:01 AM on May 5, 2022 [3 favorites]

the cynic in me (which is probably most of me) wonders why this won't work: cost, scaling, more research needed, logistics, etc. We are always on the verge of Figuring It Out, only to run up against reality

They don't seem to be using the enzymatic process from the article, but at least one company seems to be putting something like this into operation, breaking down waste plastics into raw materials that can be used to make virgin plastic instead of just melting down recyclables.
posted by fogovonslack at 7:13 AM on May 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

Yes, as per a novel written fifty years ago.

(... And a short-story I wrote in Grade 4 after an intense fever-dream. Basically completely destroyed all civilization and sent the planet back to uninhabited wilderness. However, we had already started living in orbitals and the solar system at large, so about 30-40 years after the "event" a young explorer and his intelligent cyborg-monkey sidekick were able to return to do some exploring. My teacher loved it, I got a good grade...)

Now, I have to go read the real thing - thanks!
posted by rozcakj at 8:49 AM on May 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

Already too late for climate change.
posted by tiny frying pan

Yeah. Unfortunate but true. I'm an old guy and probably won't experience the worst of it. But I am sad for my son and his new baby. Goodbye and thanks for nothing. So to speak.
posted by Splunge at 8:59 AM on May 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

I recently learned that motivation for inventing plastics was saving elephants and whales... Basically everything we use plastics for now (toothbrush handles, cellphone cases) would tend to be ivory in the 19th century.
posted by kaibutsu at 9:01 AM on May 5, 2022 [7 favorites]

Decorative items that would otherwise be ivory are a small fraction of our plastic use. Think of how much plastic you have in your house represented by toothbrushes, piano keys, knobs and beauty products vs how much is represented by packaging, vinyl siding and windows, the liner of your fridge, cabinets of your computer, tv, radio, small kitchen appliances, the interior of your car, the insulation in your walls,etc. Heck a single medium size plastic cooler with foam insulation would probably outweigh the ivory in a 1900s home.

The first synthetic feedstock plastic was bakelite and it came about as an extension of work to find a replacement for shellac.
posted by Mitheral at 10:26 AM on May 5, 2022 [4 favorites]

I wish this were scalable. Exxon and AmSty are financing "advanced recycling" (i.e. setting the plastic on fire, for various forms of fire) plants in environmental justice areas which are constantly hit by hurricanes....last year.

So, I mean, if they wanted this technology to go unsuppressed by the Oil lobby, maybe scale it up a year ago?

Hopefully groups can sue under BACT to stop pyrolysis plants, but otherwise implementation seems a bit unfeasible.
posted by eustatic at 1:28 PM on May 5, 2022

Fifty year old novel? Ha! Back in the early 60’s, I got a novel via the Science Fiction Bookclub whose plot revolves around a designer bacteria that ate the plastic backing of magnetic tape, the major storage medium for digital data back then. Chaos ensued as businesses and governments started losing all their data. You have to be careful about what new miracle technology or living creature you let loose into the world.
posted by njohnson23 at 1:55 PM on May 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

Basically everything we use plastics for now (toothbrush handles, cellphone cases) would tend to be ivory in the 19th century.

This is a common misconception based on the few that have survived to present day, but thanks to modern archeological modeling and better interpretations of contemporaneous texts, we now know that most 19th century cellphone cases were made out of teak or cherrywood.
posted by solotoro at 2:24 PM on May 5, 2022 [28 favorites]

This sort of thing was also covered in Neal Stephenson’s Zodiac
posted by antinomia at 4:16 PM on May 5, 2022 [4 favorites]

Polyester, too! Not holding my breath, but it's nice to see this kind of progress anyway.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 4:50 PM on May 5, 2022

Enzymes are not necessarily optimized for catalytic speed. There may be other evolutionary pressures—specificity, versatility, stability, ease of synthesis, etc. They evolve to integrate cleanly with other pieces of cellular machinery, some of which may be specific to the species. Tweaking it to run faster may well compromise its ability to function in its original context. If it’s part of a multi-step pathway, it may not be useful to other species at all.
posted by dephlogisticated at 5:10 PM on May 5, 2022

Haven’t read the paper but I’m guessing this will be commercially viable in ten years. Like fusion. And fully autonomous cars
posted by From Bklyn at 11:32 PM on May 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

But this is the dumbest timeline, so maybe instead of a 50 year old novel we get a 40 year old movie

It also reminded me of the 70 year old short story from Ray Bradbury, A Piece of Wood.

(sorry could not find a full ungated copy but do seek it out)
posted by Meatbomb at 5:48 AM on May 7, 2022 [1 favorite]