xoxoxoBruce • May 25, 2008 2:01 pm
A Canadian 11th grader, as a science project, has isolated the microbe that eats plastic bags. It's not the ultimate solution, but it is a major step toward it.
Think this kid will have trouble getting a job, after he's used up the scholarships he's won?
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He knew plastic does eventually degrade, and figured microorganisms must be behind it. His goal was to isolate the microorganisms that can break down plastic -- not an easy task because they don't exist in high numbers in nature.Probably a research lab could have done this long ago, but there hasn't been any substantial interest (money) in this kind of research. They're to busy looking for things they can sell.
To identify the bacteria in his culture, he let them grow on agar plates and found he had four types of microbes. He tested those on more plastic strips and found only the second was capable of significant plastic degradation.What if they scientifically increase the number of these rare microbes in the world and they start eating everything made of plastic... the microbe that devoured walmart!
Next, Burd tried mixing his most effective strain with the others. He found strains one and two together produced a 32 per cent weight loss in his plastic strips. His theory is strain one helps strain two reproduce.
The inputs are cheap, maintaining the required temperature takes little energy because microbes produce heat as they work, and the only outputs are water and tiny levels of carbon dioxide -- each microbe produces only 0.01 per cent of its own infinitesimal weight in carbon dioxide, said Burd.
Think this kid will have trouble getting a job, after he's used up the scholarships he's won?
link