Finally, One Of The Major Issues Of The Earth Is Solved : SCIENCETINE

 Scientists have found a solution to plastic pollution!

            

        Plastic-eating bacteria was first discovered by a group of Japanese scientists. It happened accidentally. Ideonella sakaiensis was able to decompose PET, a type of plastic that is used mostly in drinking bottle production. But the bacteria worked so slowly, taking around six weeks to break down the plastic. Scientists across the world began to work on this and tried to make it more efficient. 

            As a result of that in 2018, British Scientists were able to modify the bacteria to work faster on plastics. This new version was more effective on harder plastics and quicker around 20% than the naturally occurring version. Further experiments were followed and scientists developed a “bacteria package” that can decompose a mix of materials including plastics, polyester, cotton, and others.

                Though plastic-eating bacteria solve a major issue on the earth when it is applied on a large scale, they have the potential to harm the environment more than plastic waste itself. Some toxins are released as by-products of the process that harm the environment.

The latest discovery is that European lakes are full of bacteria that can break down plastics.

                  The researchers found that those lake bacteria grow faster on the remains of the plastic bags than on natural materials like leaves, and branches. Lakes are fewer in natural carbon compounds. Thus bacteria break down carbon compounds of plastic and use them for their growth and reproduction. Researchers have found that this process increases the breakdown of natural carbon compounds in the lake. They suggest that plastic pollution stimulates the whole food web in the lakes and warn not to take this fact as an excuse for littering plastics in the lakes.