The new enzyme that degrades plastic in 24 hours

One of the biggest problems we face is the slow degradation of the plastics that we use in huge quantities. They take hundreds of years to degrade and contaminate all our environments.

More than 380 million tons of plastics (of various types) are produced each year and a large part ends up polluting natural resources. A lot of work is being done to find a way to make plastics degrade quickly, but it’s not easy.

I have read with great satisfaction that researchers at the University of Austin (Texas) have developed an enzyme capable of breaking down plastics in a few hours (less than a day). I think this is very good news that deserves to be highlighted, but being cautious until the results are confirmed with specific applications.

Puting it very simply, enzymes are proteins that act as catalysts that speed up chemical reactions. The molecules that enzymes can act on are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products.

The following video explains how an enzyme works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozdO1mLXBQE

In the case of these enzymes now developed, they can complete a circular process of breaking down plastic into smaller parts (depolymerization) in a few hours, and that is why they have been called FAST-PETase.

And something very important is that they carry out this process at low temperatures (they hardly require additional heating), which simplifies and cheapens the entire process of decomposing plastics.

These new enzymes have degraded 51 different types of plastics and have done so within a week and a day. Something never achieved until now.

A video can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/jXVSpuclZt4

The new possibilities offered by these enzymes are great in all the processes of treating plastic materials. Not only in recycling tasks, but also in the regeneration of industrial by-products to achieve a circular economy in the field of plastics

This is very good news that should be confirmed in the coming months.