this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2025
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Getting bacterial enzymes that can break down HDPE is tough. I read that the issue is there isn't a good place for the enzyme to "dig in" on the polymer strand.
While many plastics have a really bad reputation for recyclability, isn't HDPE (#2 plastic) one of the few stand outs that recycles very well?
The problem is how much of it never makes it to the recycling stream worldwide. Picking it out of the environment is labor intensive. Bacteria munching it down would be more effective.
If you're at a point where you can feed it to bacteria, you've already separated it from the environment and the waste stream, right? How else are you going to feed it to bacteria?
You know that bacteria exist in the wild normally, right? That is where they've been for 5 billion years.
Wait, are you suggesting releasing bio-engineered bacteria that destroys plastic randomly in the wild? You don't see any practical problems that would cause?
Why would it be random? We are already releasing huge amounts of artificial chemicals into the wild.
Perhaps I should have used the word "uncontrolled" instead of random. If you're expecting this bacteria to work against, say, a field with plastic litter in it, its going to be in contact with lots of other things made of plastic that aren't waste. If the bacteria is able to self replicate, and you've released it into the wild, you've effectively killed the use for nearly all plastics as things that are still in use will be decomposed.
Thats a bizarre argument. That would be like saying: "We have lots of murders in the world, so why not intentionally murder more people?"
That is a terrible analogy. There are already bacteria and fungi out there that show signs of breaking down plastics but at a very slow rate btw. It could function only under very specific conditions, like UV light exposure or sea water. I'd like to know how else you would remove plastics from the wild.
I wouldn't consider UV light to be specific. Sunlight has huge amounts of UV and sunlight is, well nearly everywhere. Sea water would also be a bad catalyst to choose. Lots of parts of boats and ships that come in contact with sea water (through the bilge or as sea spray) intentionally use plastic as it doesn't rust or corrode in the presence of marine environments. What you're suggesting would remove that protection.
Sure, but we're not talking about those. You're suggesting releasing a bacteria that is being designed for industrial scale and use of rapid plastic decomposition. You don't see a difference there?
I'm not required to provide a solution just to point out the catastrophic shortcomings of a proposed one.
We often use plastic because bacteria can't break it down.
Yup but it is a catch 22.