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Mutant enzyme breaks down plastic bottles


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This is good news...But how long before it's put into widespread use to control our plastic waste problems? Years? Decades?

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Kind of ironic that this enzyme was created by accident when, as I understand it, synthetic plastic was first invented also by accident.  Sometimes science is not planned because we really don't understand as much as we think we do about the universe.  :-)

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These are great news! I have a tradition of cleaning up the garbage from the brook gully and the meadow by my house every spring before the Easter (I am the only person who does it but I don't mind it). The most of the garbage is plastic bags and bottles, some industrial trash too as there are always some houses being constructed around. The biggest problem is the so called "eco-friendly" garbage bags dumped two or three years ago, those are always half-sunk into the ground and wrapped up with grass roots. When I try to pull them up I discover that those are actually already decomposed (as promised) and the garbage is now sunk deep into the ground and mixed with it, so the only solution is to use the shovel which is not an easy task. In such cases I always wish the bags would be made of something strong and long-lasting. I usually collect up to 10 big bags of this type, commonly used in Russia since the USSR times (only they were woven of sackcloth back them, now of thin strips of plastic). About 70% of the trash is not intentionally dropped but rather scattered around by the wind from the several illegal waste dumps, during the winter months. When the snow melts it all comes up, and I can't bear to watch it every day out of my window. Unfortunately, all I can do is to take the collected garbage away into the city, a couple of bags at a time, and dump it into the closest waste bin. Of course there are a lot of guys around who offer trash removal services, but I am too afraid they dump it into one of the nearest illegal dumps and then I'll need to collect some of it again, blown away with the wind. :lol:

Edited by Chaldon
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4 hours ago, Noxasa said:

Kind of ironic that this enzyme was created by accident when, as I understand it, synthetic plastic was first invented also by accident.  Sometimes science is not planned because we really don't understand as much as we think we do about the universe.  :-)

Kinda like how gun powder was invented? I can imagine his surprise (after he checked to see if all his bits were still there and he extinguished his eyebrows) after mixing a few harmless compounds together and getting them too close to a heat source. Science can be funny especially when you're standing further back.:lol:

Hank

Edited by Hankenhunter
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Anyone think it's not such great news?

It has always been an issue that this might become a food source for something, and then everything we use plastic for is in jeopardy.

We use it for a lot of stuff. 

If we can control it, great. 

 

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2 hours ago, ChaosRose said:

Anyone think it's not such great news?

It has always been an issue that this might become a food source for something, and then everything we use plastic for is in jeopardy.

We use it for a lot of stuff. 

If we can control it, great. 

 

I had the same reaction. Yeah that' great for cleanup but it eats plastic in a matter of days doesn' this mean the total destruction of everything plastic which we use for everything? So what happens when it gets loose and a couple days later all our food and drinks are not viable... along with every single  plastic part in everything we use? Is my phone going to disentigrate?

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Anyone else remember The Plastic Eaters episode of the BBC science fiction series Doomwatch ?

A plane dissolves in mid-air, its plastic components eaten away. Doomwatch faces its first challenge: to halt the disastrous spread of a man-made virus with the power to melt all plastic.

Edited by David D Stevens
spelling error
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10 hours ago, David D Stevens said:

Anyone else remember The Plastic Eaters episode of the BBC science fiction series Doomwatch ?

A plane dissolves in mid-air, its plastic components eaten away. Doomwatch faces its first challenge: to halt the disastrous spread of a man-made virus with the power to melt all plastic.

That's scary!

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my first thought was to wonder if it could be mixed with salt water so we can get rid of the great pacific garbage dump, but if I understood right it turns the plastic back into a petroleum product which is really no better than the plastic is for the oceans. it is most likely harmful to sea life anyways. 

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Glad to know we have a way to combat the enormous plastic problem the world has. It has its uses, but getting rid of it has always been the hard part.

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I have read about recycled plastic being used in roads. Lasts longer and is easier on tyres. Plus less repair from pot holes etc. 

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