MUTANT ENZYME
Scientists never fail to amaze us with their inventions. But this time they invented something which can solve the biggest problem prevailing on earth, i.e global plastic pollution. You will be amazed to know that the Mutant Enzyme, is not what scientists intended to make. It was an accidental invention, which now has become the major breakthrough. With this plastic eating mutant enzyme, now it will be possible to fully recycle the plastic bottle.
It all started with one of the waste dumps in Japan, naturally evolved plastic eating bacterium was discovered. The international team of scientists then worked on the enzyme, to know the basis of its evolution. They, end up creating a better version of an enzyme which was capable of easily breaking down the plastic bottles. This accidental invention proved to be one of the greatest inventions of all time.
The mutant enzyme discovered takes a few days to finally break down the plastic. However, the process may take ages to break down the plastic in larger areas. In the ocean but researchers are optimistic and are working on making it a speedy process at a larger scale.
Scientists are trying to make this enzyme effective enough to bring back the plastic in its original form. So that the recycling of plastic can become a viable option. If this happens it will prove to be beneficial in conserving our environment and making it free from plastic pollution.
BENEFITS
As per the statistics around 1m PET bottles are being purchased every minute all over the world. You will be shocked to know that only 14% of this quantity is recycled, leaving rest of the plastic bottles to pollute the environment. Not only it harms the human beings but is also really bad for marine life as most of the waste plastic bottles are dumped in the oceans and seas.
With the help of the mutant enzyme found by the scientists, the recycled bottles can easily be turned into the fibre that can further be used in clothing or carpet manufacturing industries. Also, the enzyme can help to bring back the original form of a plastic bottle which in turn can partially or even totally slash the need of producing more PET bottles.
Gone are the days when manufacturers were not in the favour of recycling as they felt it is cheaper to produce new products rather than recycling the former ones, but with changing times perception is changing and so as the idea of recycling. Companies are looking for different ways to recycle the used products, and the accidental invention of scientists can surely help them to achieve what they want to.