Microbes found in alpine and arctic soils capable of breaking down plastics at low temperatures could reduce the environmental costs associated with recycling, according to new research published today.
A number of microrganisms have been discovered that can ‘digest plastic’ but the enzymes critical to the process only work on an industrial scale when heated at temperatures above 30°C meaning they fail on carbon-neutrality and price.
But scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute WSL have discovered microbes in the Swiss Alps that ‘break down biodegradable plastics at 15°C’. And at this temperature first author of the new research, Dr Joel Rüthi, currently a guest scientist at WSL, says the “organisms could help to reduce the costs and environmental burden of an enzymatic recycling process for plastic.”
Two fungal species digested all the plastic types – except PE – that were tested for which will help guide the next phase of research.
“The next big challenge will be to identify the plastic-degrading enzymes produced by the microbial strains and to optimize the process to obtain large amounts of proteins,” added author Dr Beat Frey, a senior scientist and group leader at WSL.
The original open access research article Discovery of plastic-degrading microbial strains isolated from the alpine and Arctic terrestrial plastisphere is published in full in Frontiers in Microbiology.
