Plastic credits fund pollution removal
Dateline: May 5 2025
Thanks to renewable energy and cleantech investment, there’s a noticeable decline in carbon emissions worldwide, and interest in reducing CO2 in an attempt to control the climate is waning fast. It seems targeting “net zero” has lost its popular appeal.
Now eco-warriors have real pollution in their sights, and plastic is Enemy Number #1. Plastics account for over 80% of ocean pollution, and robotic clean-up barges have hardly made a dent in the surface debris, to say nothing about nurdles and micro plastics at depth. Bioplastics and organic polymers that are compostable are one — costly — solution, but what about the gigatons of existing plastic waste that we keep adding to daily?
Three years ago, University of Texas researchers engineered an enzyme called FAST-PETase that literally eats consumer plastics and turns them into harmless chemicals in a few days. The trick was then to insert this enzyme into some fast-reproducing bacteria, to make it viable on an industrial scale.
Now we have genetically engineered microbes that gobble up mountains of plastic in record time. But that’s not all: these same bacteria can also recycle untreated plastic, turning it back into base chemicals for the production of new virgin polymers. The process is competitive with making them out of fossil fuel feedstocks, and is set to be a game-changer in the petrochemical industry.
There’s only one piece missing, the funding and incentives for this virtuous cycle, and that’s where plastic credits come in. Even in 2025, it’s still cheaper to dump plastic than recycle it, but manufacturers are now obliged to buy plastic credits to cover the environmental costs. With FAST-PETase bacteria and plastic credits, the solution to pollution is finally here!
Published on May 5 2022
Natural is the new synthetic: Plastic, glass and drugs come from microbes, not minerals
Dateline: May 29 2030
For close on a century now, we’ve been making materials out of petroleum products and minerals; things that drive the modern consumer society like plastics, fuels, and food additives. What’s more, our never-ending population boom needs larger crops every year.
It’s not like we’re running short of commodities such as oil and maize, but mining and forest clearing are taking their toll on the planet. The solution is obvious: use nature to synthesise nature — it’s been going on, naturally, for billions of years.
Biosynthesis and bioengineering are making it possible to turn plants and microbes into factory workers. With a little genetic modification, bacteria can be coaxed into producing synthetic oils and fats; and herbs, yeasts, and enzymes can make almost any complex compound we require.
It started with brewing synthetic palm oil back in 2020, to save the forests from being cleared for plantations. Now we’re making “glass” from transparent cellulose and organic polymers to replace plastic, without the need for expensive recycling and toxic chemical waste.
Call it synth-org or bio-facturing if you will, but making stuff these days is more like farming and brewing than chemistry and industrial processes. Consumers love it, and so does the environment.
It’s only natural.
Published on May 28 2020
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.