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this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2023
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That’s a significant step forward from when the last time I read up on the plastic eating bacteria. Granted, I’d prefer it if it was recycled into something other than more plastic… but I’ll still take it.
I think it's highly likely there's a catch, like you have to grow 250 tons of bacteria. Usually there is with amazing advances which get a news story but not a lot of reaction from other academics.
They’re still in the process of genetically engineering the bacteria, so their efficiency is still a work in progress.
There’s also the issue that economies of scale tip heavily in plastics direction,
It’s not a carbon neutral process. There’s significant both heating and cooling involved.
And, it doesn’t really solve the issue of retiring plastics.
The last update I read on the bacteria, prior to the genetic engineering, mentioned that the bacteria didn’t actually like the plastic and would only really break it down for want of something more practical. Presumably that has been solved, but I didn’t see it brought up in the article.
This feels like an ice 9 situation
Well, how would we change it from plastic into something else?
The article explains that they use the bacteria to basically break down the plastic into two solutions, which they ultimately recombine into plastic—seemingly out of lack of any other practical use for the results.
I’m not a scientist, I don’t know what could be a better use for the results of the bacteria doing their job. And seemingly, neither do the scientists, but it’s still a very young project in the grand scheme of things.