Revolutionary biodegradable plastic uses bacteria to eat itself

The world has a big plastic problem that it's yet to fix. We're trying to reduce our reliance on plastic, but that's seemingly impossible in modern society. The material is too important for our daily lives despite its impact on the environment. Plastics also hurt living organisms directly, as microplastics are routinely found inside them. That includes the human body, with new research showing that microplastics can end up in all sorts of organs.

One way to reduce the impact of plastic waste on the environment is to develop better ways to break it down. One such biodegradable plastic idea comes from a team of researchers at the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The scientists were able to create a type of living plastic that contains bacteria spores. The spores are inactive while the containers are being used. However, when the material needs to be disposed of, the bacteria can be activated, so they wake up and start consuming the plastic.

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Revolutionary biodegradable plastic uses bacteria to eat itself originally appeared on BGR.com on Mon, 26 Aug 2024 at 11:19:07 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.