I hear rumors of using bacteria that eat plastics as a solution to pollution. What would these bacteria excrete?
It depends entirely on the plastic. IIRC some organisms can convert polyethylene to ethylene glycol, which can be further metabolized.
That’d be my third question, after “Would it really work?” and “Are we in the first scene of a bad monster movie?”
What they would excrete would be primarily carbon dioxide and water, same as you and me. Plastics are made of mostly the same elements as living creatures, just arranged a little differently.
So, not one of those plastic fake dog poops?
My first question would be how do we make sure it only eats the waste plastic?
Funny - but the plastic fake dog poop is actually what they would eat, since it’s plastic.
Even if it does only eat plastic, how do we make sure it only eats plastic we don’t want? How do we keep it from attacking plastics we do want (e.g. all the plastic parts in your car)? Dissolving plastics with solvents is fine; the solvent gets used up. But if bacteria use your plastic as fuel to make more of themselves, and can spread just like any other bacteria (e.g. by contact, or on the wind/water), then we could have a problem.
This touches on the “grey goo” scenario that has been a concern of nanotechnology theorists for a long time:
Later in the article, we find a quote from another source:
That was my 1st thought also and then the realization that all bacteria eventually escapes into the big wide world.
AFAIK the organisms described thus far are all already out in the big wide world.
The last study I saw was waxmoth larvae, DOI 10.1016/j.cub.2017.02.060
Mutant 59?
The scariest part about the gray goo scenario is that it’s already happened. And then the goo proceeded to turn a fifth of the atmosphere into one of the most dangerous, corrosive substances known.
Technically, the goo was probably blue-green.
The “plastic-eating microbe escapes” scenario is a key plot point of Michael Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain, where the “space virus” mutates into something that eats plastic and rubber. Including the plastic and rubber seals in its isolation environment. It didn’t go all “end of the world” because it mutated again into something benign (lucky lucky :rolleyes:) but that’s the first I was exposed to the concept of a plastic-phage microorganism.
I read that this wiped out most life on earth at the time.
Forget the “grey goo” scenario. Breaking down PET using bacteria is an industrial process involving vats of bacteria One of the products produced by this process is ethylene glycol, i.e., antifreeze.
That was my first thought, too!
Cite? Was this a real event, or some meta-thing I’m not getting?
ETA: Oh, wait, meta-thing: corrosive substance = water?
I vaguely remember an old SF short story where the plastic eating bacteria got loose and the only thing that kept the company that had produced them from bankruptcy was, 1) the fact that they did manage to corral the little beasties somehow and 2) the discovery that what they excreted was alcohol.
I’ll remind everyone that there have been bacteria and fungi that break down cellulose for millions of years, and yet we continue to build structures with wood, wear cellulose-based clothing, etc., without civilization breaking down.
Just because a novel bacterium can digest nylon doesn’t imply that it can also thrive without water, or when exposed to UV, or even in the presence of oxygen.
I suppose researchers could select breed bacteria to eat certain kinds of plastic.
If you’ve got a solution, work with it until perfect. You know, Murphy’s Law. What do you do when your bacteria start to mutate?