Mutant bacterial enzyme can break down plastic waste in just hours

Researchers have created a mutant bacterial enzyme that can break down plastic bottles for recycling in only a couple of hours according to The Guardian. .

The enzyme can break down PET plastic bottles into their individual chemical composites, which could later be reused to make brand new bottles.

Conventional recycled plastic that goes through a "thermo mechanical" process isn't high enough quality and is mostly used for other products such as clothing and carpets.

The "PET hydrolase" enzyme can break down 90 percent of PET polymers in just ten hours.

This highly efficient, optimized enzyme outperforms all PET hydrolases reported so far, even in comparison to the second most promising candidate, a plastic-degrading bacterium strain called 201-F6.

The new enzyme was also extremely cost effective to produce. In fact, according to the researchers, making new plastic from oil would have cost 25 times as much.

It's a real breakthrough in the recycling and manufacturing of PET.