Researchers at industrial company Carbios have created a bacterial enzyme that can break down plastic bottles in just a couple of hours, The Guardian reported.
The enzyme can break down PET bottles into separate chemical composites, which can then be used to make new bottles.
Conventional recycled plastic that goes through a 'thermomechanical' process is not of high quality and is mainly used for various coatings.
Carbios has partnered with leading industry leaders including Pepsi and L'Oreal to help develop the technology. A scientific article describing the discovery was published today in the prestigious journal Nature.
The enzyme 'PET hydrolase' is capable of degrading 90 percent of PET polymers in just ten hours.
“This highly efficient, optimized enzyme outperforms all previously reported PET hydrolases,” the article says – even compared to the second most promising candidate, a strain of plastic degrading bacteria called 201-F6.
The new enzyme was first discovered in a pile of composted leaves back in 2012.
“Which was completely forgotten, but turned out to be the best,” said Alain Marty of the University of Toulouse in France and chief scientist at Carbios.
“This is a real breakthrough in PET recycling and manufacturing,” said Saleh Jabarin, a professor at the University of Toledo, Ohio and a member of the Carbios Science Committee.
The researchers hope to test the material's 'industrial and commercial potential' in 2021 in France, Marty said. “Our goal is to be operational by 2024, 2025 on a large industrial scale,” said Martin Stefan, Deputy CEO of Carbios.
This article is published by Futurism.
