A team of researchers affiliated with the University of Texas, United States, has discovered an enzyme capable of breaking down plastic in a matter of days, thus providing a solution to plastic waste in overflowing landfills and the environment.
“Beyond the obvious waste management industry, this also provides corporations from every sector the opportunity to take a lead in recycling their products,” says Hal Alper, one of the study’s researchers. “Through these more sustainable enzyme approaches, we can begin to envision a true circular plastics economy.”
The polyethylene terephthalate (PET) enzyme can be found in many products – single-used packaging and textile to name a few – and has been turned into PETase, a natural plastic-eating enzyme that allows bacteria to degrade PET plastics. Called FAST-PETase – which stands for functional, active, stable, and tolerant PETase – it was tested on more than 50 different types of plastic and can work at less than 50oC. Since it can break down (depolymerization) and put back together (re-polymerization) plastics, the enzyme could be part of a circular process. Some plastics were even broken down in less than 24 hours. The next step: scaling up enzyme production for environmental and industrial applications.
