This New Plastic Disappears When You Don't Need It Anymore

International researchers have developed a self-digesting plastic, which they say could not only help reduce plastic pollution, but also strengthen the plastic itself. The team developed a biodegradable version of the commercial plastic polyurethane, which is often used in phone cases, footwear, and car parts but currently has no recycling stream and mostly ends up in landfill. The team embedded spores of a plastic-degrading bacteria, Bacillus subtilis, and genetically engineered the bacteria to tolerate the extreme heat needed to produce the plastic. Upon disposal in a simulated environment, rapid biodegradation of the plastic was triggered by exposure to certain nutrients in compost. The authors found that spore incorporation led to more than 90% plastic biodegradation in five months. It also increased the toughness of the plastic by about 37%, compared to thermoplastic polyurethanes without spores.
Journal/conference: Nature Communications
Link to research (DOI): 10.1038/s41467-024-47132-8
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