These bacteria eat plastic

"Planet or Plastic?" is National Geographic’s multiyear effort to raise awareness about the global plastic trash crisis. Come to this page often to learn more, find out what you can do to reduce your own single-use plastics and take your pledge.

After reading about the sheer scope of plastic waste on the planet and learning that only an estimated 9-10 percent of all plastic waste is recycled, I wanted to do something. I took Dr. Jay Mellies's microbiology class and realized that bacteria could do some incredible metabolic gymnastics, which made me wonder whether bacteria could indeed degrade a complex, inert material like plastic. I researched the topic and found several papers showing that this was indeed possible. This paper by Yoshida et al., and the below paper by Yang et al., were my main inspirations and guides for this project, as they provide detailed experimental outlines, potential metabolic pathways and evidence that bacteria from polluted or plastic-inundated environments could indeed degrade plastic.

This paper was another inspiration for this project.

Consider looking into companies such as 4Ocean that use reclaimed plastic to sell bracelets that raise awareness of and funds to combat plastic pollution.

Also consider looking into Ubuntoo, an organization that highlights companies working to create products to promote plastic sustainability projects and reclaimed plastic products.