Researchers learn to add bacterial spores to the production of a common plastic so bacteria can consume it after it is landfilled or composted.
UCSD researcher Jon Pokorski stands in his lab, stretching string of polyurethane that is designed to biodegrade when it's landfilled or composted. May 8, 2024of plastic are created and discarded every year. The vast majority are petroleum-based, and they do not naturally degrade. Unless plastic is recycled, and very few are, it can remain a waste item for up to a thousand years.
Pokorski said they found two kinds of bacteria that could use polyurethane as an exclusive food source. This form of plastic goes by the acronym TPU, for thermoplastic polyurethane, and it’s used for lots of things from cushions and shoes to watchbands.Pokorski and his team embedded bacterial spores in the plastic as it was created. Spores are like dormant seeds that will become bacteria. When the spores wake up, they start feasting on the TPU.“Things that happen in soil.
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