If you think of a big environmental problem, a daily one that anyone can practically identify with the naked eye, the quickest answer will be that of plastic. Plastic is everywhere and is used for practically anything. Its footprint —and a simple walk through the mountains or a park will help to visualize it— is equally ubiquitous. Solving it is fundamental and, perhaps, in this response to the problem, nature could play an active part. Unlike what happens with plastic, we may not see them, but bacteria could be the key to the correct management of this waste.
The waste data generated by plastics is overwhelming. As Greenpeace has calculated, more plastic has been produced in the last ten years than has been produced in the entire previous history of mankind. And that material is seeping into nature.
A calculation made by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2020 concluded that each year — and in the Mediterranean alone — the equivalent of 500 shipping containers full of plastic are thrown into the sea every day. In the final accounts, there are 229,000 tons of plastic, a high amount that the organization estimates will double by 2040. Spain is the second country that dumps the most plastic into that sea, according to WWF accounts. The NGO’s investigations indicate that of all the waste that floats through the Mediterranean and that ends up reaching the beaches, 95% is precisely plastic and that the concentration of microplastics is already higher than what can be found in the famous ” plastic island’ in the Pacific Ocean.
Plastic is not just a problem for the seas. It is for the health, in general, of ecosystems and could even be for humans. On average, and according to another WWF study, a person ingests about 21 grams of plastic per month, by eating those that have leaked into nature.
Reducing the use of this material, especially so-called single-use plastics, is one of the measures that are being implemented thanks to awareness campaigns and more restrictive regulations for its circulation. This is what just happened, for example, in France, where fast food chains can no longer provide disposable tableware. But it is also crucial to improve waste management: Greenpeace estimates, for example, that in Spain 50% of all packaging ends up in landfill.
How to put an end to this “epidemic”, as some already call it, of plastics and make this garbage stop being a problem for the planet? That is where this solution from nature itself comes into play: plastic-eating bacteria could alleviate it.
The idea of leaving the management of this waste in the hands of bacteria is not exactly new. A search in the newspaper library allows us to follow the trail of several studies that have demonstrated the potential of the idea. One of the most recent ideas is the one that was presented a few months ago in Science magazine and that is committed to using microbes. But already in the summer a ‘paper’ by a researcher from the University of Cambridge proposed enriching the water with a bacterium with a high appetite for plastic —and indirectly strengthening the ecosystem of the lakes in which it lived because these bacteria were the point starting point of the food chain. Even at the University of Texas they are now designing an enzyme capable of decomposing plastics in a matter of days at most and simplifying the process of their reuse.
Why this race to find a bacterium that is capable of getting rid of plastic? “It is topical and the accumulation of plastics in the natural terrestrial and marine environment is a real environmental problem at a global level,” answers María Ester López Moya, professor of the Master’s Degree in Environmental Management and Organizations at the International University of La Rioja ( BIND).
As López Moya explains, “although they are recyclable, they are not easily biodegradable and, therefore, they are highly polluting”, since, as the professor indicates, if they end up in the natural environment, they can take “hundreds and even thousands of years” to disappear. “In addition, the greenhouse gas emissions that occur throughout the life cycle of plastic is one of the factors that most influence climate change,” she adds.
In that light, the race to find the perfect bacterium to fill this role is better understood. “Because there is still no sustainable and unique way to eliminate microplastics, the desire of our scientists is to find effective solutions to trap, recycle or eliminate this harmful waste”, indicates López Moya.
That is, the idea of these plastic-eating bacteria has already occurred to quite a few people, but developing it and making it work is even more crucial now, in a world where plastics accumulate and conquer everything without us having an effective solution. to make them disappear completely, quickly and efficiently.
The benefits of bacteria
But what is it about bacteria that makes them so interesting? That is, what benefits can they bring compared to other solutions that have already been considered or are already being worked on to recover plastics and prevent them from becoming a problem?
The UNIR professor points out two key points about the plastics themselves: they are difficult to degrade – the process is “complex, slow and expensive” – and “they are of a sufficiently large size” when they become waste, so “they do not a biodegradative process can act on them.
Bacteria come into play and are capable of breaking it down into elements that do not contaminate, points out the expert, and, therefore, she points out: “it represents a milestone in this field and one of the fundamental tools to be able to decontaminate ecosystems and address the most important challenge What is protecting the environment? If the bacteria also manage to improve waste management and open the door to reuse, they would manage to make the plastic life cycle circular. And, although López Moya recalls that the importance of reducing the manufacture of plastics must not be forgotten, “the environmental impact would visibly decrease”.
If the process has disadvantages, the professor points out that it would be necessary to ask what effect the accumulation of bacteria could have in the place where they are ‘attacking’ the plastic. “I don’t know how it would affect the environment, and they would damage the environment or easily adapt to those specific conditions, since the bacteria and other microorganisms used in plastic biodegradation processes are living beings,” she explains. For this reason, she points out, it should be studied well.
initial phases
And if bacteria are so promising, why aren’t they already ending the plastic plague that has become one of the great environmental burdens? The question is not so easy, because the studies are still that, studies. “It is true that we are still in the process of research on processes and applications,” says the professor, who also points out that not all bacteria are valid for all types of plastics. However, the existence of this research is promising: it marks a potential path and, above all, helps to understand it.
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