Find out about the innovative synthetic polymer turned biodegradable plastic that responds to bacteria and could well be a step forward for tackling the ever-growing worldwide epidemic of waste plastics.
Bacteria to the Rescue
Plastic Waste is One of the Major Global Issues, the World is Facing Nowadays Billions of Tons Remaining Unlanded globally on the Grounds and Water Bodies Including Rivers, Oceans and into Air in form of Micron Size. This is because they are made from high-molecular-weight molecules, called polymers which are challenging to degrade, and for this reason, create major environmental hazards and harm human health.
But a new composite plastic developed by researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel incorporates elements that allow bacteria to feast on it. By mixing a biodegradable polymer with crystals made from parts of a biological substance, this new material is cheap to prepare and very strong, its inventors say.
What made this discovery possible was the employment of a well-known amino acid, known as tyrosine which has a high propensity to form superhard nanocrystals. The researchers fabricated these tyrosine nanocrystals into a composite plastic by mixing them with hydroxyethyl cellulose—a derivative of cellulose—which not only toughens the material but makes it more flexible than some of its base compounds. This synergy enables a list of industrial applications you can make out of the new material, ranging from aeroplanes and cars to bicycles.
Sustainability at the Forefront
This is a biodegradable composite plastic that shows amazing qualities. In contrast to typical plastics — the majority of which have a hard time decomposing for centuries — this massive material is essentially biodegradable effortlessly by bacteria. Both of the key ingredients, cellulose and tyrosine, are edible, so the composite plastic could be eaten.
The discoveries have important commercial implications due to the urgent requirement for sustainable replacements for common plastics, state the researchers. Biodegradable plastics are currently less than one-fifth of the total plastic production and it often requires difficult processes to break them down.
The new type of composite plastic created by the Weizmann researchers offers a potential solution for the environmental harm caused by waste from non-biodegradable plastics, due to being produced at low costs using simple and effective methods. The team is also working on scaling up the production process and replacing boiling in water with a more industry-standard melting technology. This would theoretically pave the way for large-scale production of graphene to begin running off those assembly lines if as yet theoretical remaining scientific and technical bottlenecks can be cleared.
Conclusion
The successful creation of bio-friendly composite plastic that decomposes with the help of bacteria may hold promise in the face of a worldwide reliance on non-degradable plastics. This research from the Weizmann Institute has opened up a great opportunity for the future, to live a more sustainable tomorrow and reduce the plastic pollution taking place on our respective ecosystems. This innovation could very well end up being scaled across a number of industries and be a game-changer in the effort for a cleaner, greener Earth as the team refines their production.
