| With these articles I always wonder what they're turned into, since headlines and introductory paragraphs always conveniently omit that. These seem to be the relevant parts of the article: > degrading PET [particles] and reducing them to their essential components, which would allow them to be broken down or recycled > "One variant breaks down the PET particles more thoroughly, so it could be used for degradation in sewage treatment plants. The other gives rise to the initial components needed for recycling. In this way we can purify or recycle, depending on the needs," explains Laura Fernández López Hmm, so that sounds like it's a step forwards (working the problem), but not yet a solution that can recycle PET into something anyone can use Edit: this is why I'm asking... Article: "... the bacterium Idionella sakaiensis, which is capable of degrading this type of plastic and was discovered in 2016 in a packaging recycling plant in Japan." Wikipedia on Ideonella sakaiensis: "[they] mineralize 75% of the degraded PET into carbon dioxide" (to be fair, it also produces a "MHETase enzyme" which "could also be optimized and used in recycling or bioremediation applications") https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideonella_sakaiensis |