Recently, several different methods of eating plastic have been discovered. The most widely talked about is a bacteria that decomposes plastic. It seems that due to the recent abundance of plastic pollutants in nature, some bacteria have begun to “eat” the plastic. Bacteria like this cultivated in our landfills would slowly open up space for more trash to be deposited.
Another recently discovered plastic eater is an enzyme called PETase. This does virtually the same thing that the plastic eating bacteria does. PETase consumes #1 plastics which gives its name PETase. This enzyme breaks down plastic 6 times faster than previous attempts at creating plastic eating enzymes.
A lesser known plastic eater is Aspergillus Tubingensis, a plastic eating fungus. This fungus can break down plastics within weeks. Though not much is known about this fungus, it seems like it could be a powerful ally in decomposing plastic.
Plastic Eating Bacteria
