As we all know the whole world is facing a tough time due to the climate changes taking place all over the world. The major reason for this is the pollution created by the waste accumulated in the form of landfills of non-biodegradable materials like plastic, metals, e-waste, etc. It has been a major issue for all countries to manage such kind of waste. Now a days researchers at various universities are working in this field to deal with this problem in environment friendly manner.
Plastic Eating Enzymes – A research by Scientists of University of Texas, Austin
University of Texas, Austin is known for its great contribution to the various research, business, higher education, art and many other fields. Recently, the scientists and researchers at Texas University created an enzyme that chemically breaks down the plastic in a short period of time. It has been announced by the university in the April 27th Edition of their journal “Nature”. Normally, plastic takes centuries to breakdown but this plastic eating enzyme can help to degrade it in 24 hours. This research can prove a boon for the whole mankind and nature. It can help to get rid of the plastic pollution problem created by the plastic waste.
Machine learning technology is used to mutate the natural enzyme PETase into the one that could beak down the PET made plastic. It uses a circular process to break the plastic into smaller parts and then transform it into the reusable plastic. This process can be as fast that it could break the environmentally harmful plastic within just 24 hours. It can prove a better and environment friendly way to deal with the plastic waste instead of putting it into landfills or burning it.
According to the report given by UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), a total of 400 million ton plastic waste is produced each year. If this trend continues in the same manner it will be 1,100 million tons by 2050. So, this research is a major contribution to recycle the plastic waste and it can help to minimize this global issue of waste management.