05/04/2022
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have created an enzyme that has the potential to break down plastic waste in a matter of hours. This is incredibly significant, considering the fact that plastic waste typically takes hundreds of years to degrade.
The researchers took a naturally occurring enzyme called PETase, which gives bacteria the ability to degrade polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics in a matter of weeks to months, and used a computer learning model to mutate the enzyme, speeding up the degradation to a matter of hours to days.
Researchers plan to try to scale up the production of the mutated enzyme, which they’re calling FAST-PETase (functional, active, stable, and tolerant PETase), so it can be used for industrial and environmental applications.
Hal Alper, an author of the study, told UT News, ‘The possibilities are endless across industries to leverage this leading-edge recycling process. Beyond the obvious waste management industry, this also provides corporations from every sector the opportunity to take a lead in recycling their products. Through these more sustainable enzyme approaches, we can begin to envision a true circular plastics economy.’
