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Bacterial enzyme originally found in compost can be used to make high-quality new bottlesA mutant bacterial enzyme that breaks down plastic bottles for recycling in hours has been created by scientists.The enzyme, originally discovered in a compost heap of leaves, reduced the bottles to chemical building blocks that were then used to make high-quality new bottles. Existing recycling technologies usually produce plastic only good...

Bacterium is able to break down polyurethane, which is widely used but rarely recycledA bacterium that feeds on toxic plastic has been discovered by scientists. The bug not only breaks the plastic down but uses it as food to power the process.The bacterium, which was found at a waste site where plastic had been dumped, is the first that is known to attack polyurethane....

Floating boom finally retains debris from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, creator saysA huge floating device designed by Dutch scientists to clean up an island of rubbish in the Pacific Ocean that is three times the size of France has successfully picked up plastic from the high seas for the first time.Boyan Slat, the creator of the Ocean Cleanup project, tweeted that the 600...

Amount is significantly higher than the estimated amount of microplastics particles consumed by a person in an entire yearTea drinkers could be getting more than they bargained for in their brew, as a new study has found that a single plastic tea bag can shed billions of particles of microplastics.The researchers from McGill University in Canada have found that when plastic tea bags are...

Plastic pollution has entered the fossil record, research showsPlastic pollution is being deposited into the fossil record, research has found, with contamination increasing exponentially since 1945.Scientists suggest the plastic layers could be used to mark the start of the Anthropocene, the proposed geological epoch in which human activities have come to dominate the planet. They say after the bronze and iron ages, the current...