Nature has learnt how to eat our plastic!

I dont know how I missed this one in my feed but this is fantastic news for our recycling industry and a nice bit of hope for plastic recycling in the near future.

Nice video explaining in detail that a bacteria has mutated to break down synthetic polymers and the process involved.

Scientists have isolated the digestive enzyme and are now finding a route to improving its digestive power.

I think this is amazing news from nature , nature was so fed up waiting for us to get our act together its started to provide its own solutions to take care of the imbalance we have created for ourselves , I wonder what other things nature has in store to combat our aggressive attack on its ecosystems



here is the article a bacterium that degraes and assimilates PET

There is also a mycelium network of fungus that can convert plastic into biodegradable material. They are experimenting with it to try and clean up the trash in the Pacific. Work being done by Paul Stamets. Nature is fascinating!

a reply to: sapien82


Ummm...yes...

I can hardly wait until it mutates further...escapes into the ecosystem...and starts to voraciously consume everything plastic...

Then...when your portable computing device collapses into a pile of disjointed parts as your typing out a response...

...here’s to hoping you don’t catch fire...from that shorting lithium battery...


I mean...what could possibly go wrong...right...?

I mean just like COVID-19...it’s just a little ole cold virus...why not tweak it a touch here...a tad there...

I mean...what could possibly go wrong...right...?





YouSir

originally posted by: KnoxMSP
There is also a mycelium network of fungus that can convert plastic into biodegradable material. They are experimenting with it to try and clean up the trash in the Pacific. Work being done by Paul Stamets. Nature is fascinating!

Ummm...yes...

Cause we always wanted a mushroom the size of Texas...out there in the shipping lanes...cause we just know it won’t mutate to eat dolphin faces...once it runs out of Aquafina bottles...

We could name it...Isla Morel...which is slightly better than...that Texas truffle...


What do you think...?





YouSir

As I eat sushi (raw fish) , I know I'm eating plastic. And that is a fact.

Leave it to nature

Just stopping messing.

You can't handle it, never have, never will.

originally posted by: musicismagic
As I eat sushi (raw fish) , I know I'm eating plastic. And that is a fact.

Ummm...perhaps we could get you to volunteer for a study...

You know...one that tweaks your digestive enzymes so that instead of raw fish...(yuck)...YOU...could be the Aquafina bottle dispose all...

I can see you at the recycle section of the local food mart...no scan necessary...

If only we could further tweak your digestive tract...to excrete that five cents per...

On second thought...





YouSir

The grey goo is coming, it just apparently won't be nanotechnology as once thought.

a reply to: sapien82

Apparently it is not quite as effective as they make it seem. Still really interesting.

“Yoshida et al. (Report, 11 March 2016, p. 1196) reported that the bacterium Ideonella sakaiensis 201-F6 can degrade and assimilate poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET). However, the authors exaggerated degradation efficiency using a low-crystallinity PET and presented no straightforward experiments to verify depolymerization and assimilation of PET. Thus, the authors’ conclusions are rather misleading.”

Link

But nature was the one whom supply these chemicals to make such things as plastic
no doubt it has the chemical makeup to wipe it off the face of the planet.

It only take the word "Profit" then cures seem to found easy.

Don't ya find.

a reply to: YouSir

the thing is they found it outside the facility in the lot just on a pile of plastic bottles , so it wasnt made in a lab so its already out there

watch the plastic bacteria are coming to eat your flip flops

a reply to: manimal

Yeh they have isolated the genes that control the enzyme now they are just trying to find a way to synthesise the enzyme and make it work better. Really interesting stuff.

a reply to: KnoxMSP

Aye ive read that online somewhere about mushrooms and there is also apparently a mushroom that can degrade radioactive materials into less radioactive materials

originally posted by: YouSir

originally posted by: KnoxMSP
There is also a mycelium network of fungus that can convert plastic into biodegradable material. They are experimenting with it to try and clean up the trash in the Pacific. Work being done by Paul Stamets. Nature is fascinating!

Ummm...yes...

Cause we always wanted a mushroom the size of Texas...out there in the shipping lanes...cause we just know it won’t mutate to eat dolphin faces...once it runs out of Aquafina bottles...

We could name it...Isla Morel...which is slightly better than...that Texas truffle...


What do you think...?

YouSir

lol, It is a naturally occurring fungi but yea, no radiation or gamma ray exposure please.

On a serious note, they have said it would be edible by fish, and would eventually break down, and just float away as edible biodegradable debris.

a reply to: YouSir

Silicone can make a superior plastic product that is biodegradable.

Im sure we all know why petroleum is used instead.

no we dont why is oil used instead ?
Oil is so cheep they need people To pay to get ride of it so i would assume the reason is its the cheepest way ?
But i am sure for you its all about big oil .
companys care about ONE thing and one thing only the MOST money the cheapest way any thing else is bull .

Big oil ha well do the math on how much it would cost in dollars and services and JOBS to do away Totally with gas cars .
a 100 different ways to fuel a car But the world is only set up for ONE and changing that would take a 100 years .

And cars are easy . Plastic once again the world is set up to USE oil to make the stuff just converting every factory for the etck needed to us silicone would take a decade and cost god knows how much

every thing does NOt revolve around teh best resource possible it revolves around the fastest cheeps and easit to Mas produce .
bet a5 years from now there will be still almost NOTHING stamped made in the USA

a reply to: sapien82

George carlin called it lol.