These bacteria can gobble up plastic waste

A research team in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, has discovered a marine bacterial community capable of efficiently degrading plastic waste.

The study demonstrated the potential for using these bacteria to develop plastic degradation, which could give an answer to a major pollution problem on the planet, according to the research team, led by Sun Chaomin, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Oceanology.

Plastic waste is becoming the most common form of marine debris and presents a growing global pollution problem.

It has been reported that between 4.8 and 12.7 million metric tons of plastic debris enter the ocean every year. Plastics in marine environments are of increasing concern because of their persistence and effects on oceans, wildlife and humans.

Starting the study in 2016, the research team used a screening approach on hundreds of plastic waste-associated samples and discovered a marine bacterial community capable of efficiently colonizing and degrading both polyethylene terephthalate, commonly known as PET and polyethylene, or PE.

Of the various types of plastic waste, PET and PE constitute the majority of the plastic pollution on Earth. According to the team, the study establishes a stable marine bacterial community that efficiently degrades PET and PE and provides insights into plastic degradation pathways and their associated biological and mechanistic processes. The work promises to pave the way to the development of microbial products that can gobble up plastic waste.

The study was reported on Sunday by the Journal of Hazardous Materials, an international platform that advances world-class research.