.
GOOD NEWS! : )

2 kids discover plastic-eating microbes
greendig.net/2-kids-disc...ng-microbes/

By Karl Burkart • June 15, 2009
ShareThis
Photo: Samuel Mann/Flickr
.
It’s not your average science fair when the 16-year-old winner manages to solve a global waste crisis. But such was the case at last May’s Canadian Science Fair in Waterloo, Ontario, where Daniel Burd, a high school student at Waterloo Collegiate Institute, presented his research on microorganisms that can rapidly biodegrade plastic.

Now another high school student from Taiwan named Tseng I-Ching swept the Intel international Science Fair for her discovery of “red bacteria” in the intestinal lining of mealworms that can metabolize polystyrene.

Plastic, one of the most indestructible of manufactured materials, does in fact eventually decompose. It takes 1,000 years but decompose it does, which means there must be microorganisms out there to do the decomposing.

Could those microorganisms be bred to do the job faster?

That was Daniel’s question which he put to the test by a very simple and clever process of immersing ground plastic in a yeast solution that encourages microbial growth, and then isolating the most productive organisms.

The preliminary results were encouraging, so he kept at it, selecting out the most effective strains and interbreeding them. After several weeks of tweaking and optimizing temperatures Burd was achieved a 43 % degradation of plastic in six weeks, an almost inconceivable accomplishment.

With 500 billion plastic bags manufactured each year and a Pacific Ocean Garbage Patchthat grows more expansive by the day, a low cost and nontoxic method for degrading plastic is the stuff of environmentalists’ dreams and, I would hazard a guess, a pretty good start-up company as well.

NOTE: There are other methods for decomposing plastic, but most are chemical in nature not organic, requiring high temperatures and chemical additives to cause the plasticizers to vaporize, for instance this patent on PVC extraction. There have been several successful bacteria based solutions developed at the Dept. of Biotechnology in Tottori, Japan as well as the Dept. of Microbiology at the National University of Ireland, but both apply only to styrene compounds.

It goes without saying that these discoveries need to be tested to ensure, for instance, that the bi-products of organic decomposition are not carcinogenic (as in the case with mammalian metabolism of styrene and benzene). The processing of plastics by these methods would also have to be contained in highly controlled environments. So, no, we’re not talking about a magic panacea or a plastic-free paradise, but the innovative application of microorganisms to break down our most troublesome waste products is nevertheless a major scientific breakthrough.

ANOTHER NOTE: one of our readers pointed out a very interesting study in 2004 at the University of Wisconsin that isolated a fungus capable of biodegrading phenol-formaldehyde polymers previously thought to be non-biodegradable. Phenol polymers are produced at an annual rate of 2.2 million metric tons per year in the United States for many industrial and commercial applications including durable plastics.
.

Don’t do RSS? Follow all Karl Burkart posts and tweets @greendig or on Facebook.

Categories: Daily Dig
Tags: toxic waste, Waste



About the Author - Karl Burkart

After writing for several green blogs and websites including GreenMatrix, EVO.com and Trendhunter, Karl created Greendig, a blog that takes a critical look at the green movement, exposing false claims and unearthing the most exciting developments in green technology, science and culture.

greendig.net/2-kids-disc...ng-microbes/

.
. .