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Managing plastic with plastivores (whyy.org)

submitted 1 year ago by sam_uk@lemmy.world to c/solarpunk

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Worldwide, researchers are hunting for a kind of `secret sauce’ — a souped-up enzyme capable of breaking down some of the most resilient plastics.

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[–] kozy138@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I remember reading that, although we are discovering new organisms that break down plastic, the organism still emits greenhouse gases through metabolic waste. And the output of that emission is similar to the emissions of just burning the plastic.

It spreads the emissions out over a longer time period, which I guess has it's benefits. Does anyone know if this research has progressed at all? I haven't had time to follow closely enough.

[–] pizzaiolo 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I guess the benefit is that it can get rid of plastic in the wild, after we've incorrectly disposed of it.

But yeah, burning this plastic in a waste-to-energy plant with proper carbon capture seems the ideal way to handle the end-of-life of plastic.

We should really be looking at stopping its production in the first place, though.

[–] kozy138@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Agreed. Stopping production or limiting it to a few uses like medical purposes will be a more important factor