Teen Finds Way to Decompose Plastic Bags in Just 3 Months!

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Teen Finds Way to Decompose Plastic Bags in Just 3

Months!

by Kenny Luna, North

Babylon, NY

 

If ordinary plastic bags would rot away like banana peels

there's no doubt a host of environmental problems would be solved, the

fate of the turtle above included. And one 11th grader from Canada set out

to make that dream come true as part of his school science project. A wildly

successful endeavor he figures will make them decompose in just 3 months.

But how did this extraordinary young scientist named Daniel

Burd pull it off?

 

Well, he decided the fact that they do, eventually,

decompose after 1,000 years on their own meant there must be something out

there causing it, and postulated that it might well be naturally occurring

microorganisms behind it.

 

So he set about with the good old-fashioned scientific

method as his guide, searching for the microorganisms, rarely found in nature,

that actually do make plastic decompose.

Ultimately, he identified two strains of bacteria that work

together to pull it off, with Sphingomonas serving as the primary decomposer

with help from Pseudomonas.

And according to Burd, industrial application should be

easy, " All you need is a fermenter . . . your growth medium, your microbes

and your plastic bags. "

As many folks know, the simplest solutions are usually the

ones that work best. And this kid has clearly come up with a potentially world

changing idea.

 

Source:

treehugger.com and WillowLady

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