# Bacteria and plastics **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 29, 2019, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bacteria-and-plastics/845549 "2019-12-29T15:27:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bacteria-and-plastics/845549/1 "2019-12-29T15:27:35Z")
Is there any sign that bacteria’s are evolving in landfills to eat plastics? If they did start to evolve would they be able to spread throughout a landfill and could they be moved to other landfills if discovered and establish themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bacteria-and-plastics/845549/2 "2019-12-29T16:07:22Z")
[Some bacteria do eat some types of plastics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideonella_sakaiensis), but “plastic” isn’t a single molecule and won’t have a single solution to eating all of them. If a bacteria did evolve that could eat all types of plastic, you would not want to move them around because they would collapse civilization and drive the fraction of humanity that survives the immediate difficulties back by centuries. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bacteria-and-plastics/845549/3 "2019-12-29T18:38:01Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [Some bacteria do eat some types of plastics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideonella_sakaiensis), but “plastic” isn’t a single molecule and won’t have a single solution to eating all of them. If a bacteria did evolve that could eat all types of plastic, you would not want to move them around because they would collapse civilization and drive the fraction of humanity that survives the immediate difficulties back by centuries. I am ashamed of myself, the thought never crossed my mind that they would also eat non discarded plastics. By the way that would be a fantastic story line for a movie! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bacteria-and-plastics/845549/4 "2019-12-29T18:47:50Z")
Even then, it might not be an issue. Like, much is made of the fact that polylactate (PLA), now often used for disposable utensils and the like, is compostable… but they never mention that it’s only compostable in extreme conditions in industrial-scale compost operations, not in your backyard garden pile (or in an ordinary landfill). And certainly, the rack of plastic forks at Chipotle isn’t getting eaten away. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bacteria-and-plastics/845549/5 "2019-12-29T18:49:22Z")
Yeah, plenty of micro-organisms eat wood, and yet, wooden structures can be maintained for years. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bacteria-and-plastics/845549/6 "2019-12-29T22:39:01Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I am ashamed of myself, the thought never crossed my mind that they would also eat non discarded plastics. By the way that would be a fantastic story line for a movie! Maybe you could use the title _**[The Andromeda Strain](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0066769/)**_ II? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bacteria-and-plastics/845549/7 "2019-12-29T23:48:57Z")
[_Mutant 59: the Plastic Eaters_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0081RLFEY/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bacteria-and-plastics/845549/8 "2019-12-30T00:40:31Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > [_Mutant 59: the Plastic Eaters_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0081RLFEY/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1) Beat me to it! ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bacteria-and-plastics/845549/9 "2019-12-30T01:19:11Z")
Plastics devoured… polyester-blend fabrics disintegrate, leading to widespread nudity… plexiglass windshields dissolve… PVC plumbing and IV tubing vanish… plastic pens and refills go, oozing ink… warehouse loads of plastic pill bottles, soda bottles, bleach and detergent bottles, all release… lawn flamingos are gone… oh, the humanity! All computing devices will go skeletal, too. No, let’s not have any general plastivore bacteria. We’ve enough other ways to cripple civilization. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bacteria-and-plastics/845549/10 "2019-12-30T01:35:18Z")
Also the insulation on wires. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bacteria-and-plastics/845549/11 "2019-12-30T03:25:37Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Also the insulation on wires. We could write spicy stories in many genres about the global disappearance of plastic. Horror, comedy, smut, religious drama, new fashion tips. SF: identify aliens by their melted plastic prostheses. Pr0n: replace vinyl BDSM-wear. Faith: oh no, where did my plastic Jesus go? Politics: when the plastic politicians have gone, who’s left? Can we train AIs to breed bacteria to feast on specific plastics? If the AIs and/or bacteria escape control, would humanity be doomed? ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bacteria-and-plastics/845549/12 "2019-12-31T16:31:57Z")
See the story [“Ill Wind”](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/86452.Ill_Wind) by Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bacteria-and-plastics/845549/13 "2019-12-31T16:43:42Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > Is there any sign that bacteria’s are evolving in landfills to eat plastics? If they did start to evolve would they be able to spread throughout a landfill and could they be moved to other landfills if discovered and establish themselves. Not much biotic action occurs in land fills except for close to the surface. Unless they were anaerobic bacteria particularly suited to that environment plastic eating bacteria are unlikely to emerge from landfills. Someone noted above how wood structures can be maintained for a long time while wood eating bacteria are everywhere, that’s why the earth isn’t covered in dead wood. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bacteria-and-plastics/845549/14 "2019-12-31T17:01:49Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > Can we train AIs to breed bacteria to feast on specific plastics? Except for the AI part, it’s the _only_ way bacteria are going to eat plastic. As someone said above, there’s no “plastic” molecule. Plastic is a collective term for a variety of synthetic molecules, or more often, a mixture of them. Bacteria may evolve on their own to eat some specific molecules used in plastic. And they already have for some specific molecules, as the same person (OK, it was Darren) posted. In fact, it would be a good thing if they did so for all types of plastic, since that would help with the plastic pollution in the ocean. But even if they did, the plastic on your body (polyester, etc.) is not going to fall apart while you’re wearing it.