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In recent years, plastic consumption has been limited because it is too polluting, but it is not enough so researchers have recently developed a new biotechnological process that would degrade plastics from bacteria. This project is called "bioclean", it helps the plastics sector to make its production more efficient, and offers recycling and recovery experts guidelines on the most effective options for breaking down various plastics.
Inserting plastics into a 'circular' economy will have great environmental benefits and create opportunities for the waste recovery sector. Scientists know that synthetic plastics are biodegradable in some marine environments as well as in landfills, compost and soil, but the processes and conditions needed were previously poorly understood.
This sounds like a great idea to fix pollution of the ocean by plastic, but the amount of plastic that should be degraded is huge. Are these bacterias effective enough to make it all disappear ? Shouldn't we try to reduce our plastic consumption instead ?