Summary Reader Response Draft 2

According to the article “Plastic-eating Enzyme Could Eliminate Billions of Tons of Landfill Waste” (UT News, 2022), scientists from University of Texas at Austin have discovered a plastic-eating enzyme that could potentially eliminate tons of plastic waste. From the article, the enzyme, Ideonella Sakaiensis has the ability to break down one of the most commonly used plastic, Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). The discovery of a plastic-eating enzyme was made at a recycling centre in Japan, and it was later improved to make it more effective in decomposing plastic. As more time is put into further development, researchers are optimistic that the enzyme can be used on a wider scale during the industrial recycling process. Although PET is use everywhere around us, it is not biodegradable and takes beyond a human’s lifespan to breakdown. In the context of this article, global PET recycling efforts should primarily rely on the benefits of plastic-eating enzyme instead of traditional methods to promote a more environmentally sustainable solution to dispose plastic and circular economy by reducing plastic waste send to landfills, and shortening the process time for recycling.

One of the benefits of plastic-eating enzyme is their ability to promote a more environmentally sustainable solution to dispose plastic. Plastic-eating enzyme uses a biological process called “circular process” to break down plastic into smaller parts and chemically transforms them into reusable plastic (Snider, 2022), which is more environmentally friendly. In comparison to traditional methods such as incineration, it is known to emit harmful pollutants into the atmosphere (Kokkinidis, 2022).

Moreover, plastic-eating enzyme promotes circular economy by reducing plastic waste sent to landfills. Since the plastic-eating enzyme is able to break down plastic into molecules, it gives the opportunity to produce same or even higher quality plastic (Marshall, 2022). By utilizing plastic-eating enzyme, not only is the reliance on landfills reduced, but new economic opportunities for the recycling industry are also created, as plastic is able to be reused to its fullest extent.

Another benefit of using plastic-eating enzyme is that it shortens the duration needed for recycling plastic waste. According to the article “This AI-Designed Enzyme Can Devour Plastic Trash in Hours: Video” (Vetter, 2022), the total time required for waste plastic to be broken down by plastic-eating enzyme is below 24 hours while the traditional method of recycling could take centuries to do so as it has many steps and processes that needs to be carried out before the plastic can be reused. With the help of plastic-eating enzymes, the recycling process is significantly faster and more efficient.

However, one of the major drawbacks of using plastic-eating enzymes to reduce plastic waste is that they often only work under specific conditions such as specific temperatures, environments, or even time periods (Muresianu, 2022). This can make it challenging to implement plastic-eating enzyme as it can be costly and inconvenient at large industrial scale, particularly when the conditions required are difficult to create.

In conclusion, the use of plastic-eating enzyme offers several benefits over traditional methods, such as promoting a more environmentally sustainable solution when disposing plastic, promoting circular economy by reducing plastic waste sent to landfills and shortening the duration needed for recycling plastic waste. However, the limitations of plastic-eating enzymes include their requirement of specific conditions to work effectively, which can make it difficult to implement on a large scale. Despite this, the potential benefits of plastic-eating enzymes far outweigh the drawbacks and by relying on plastic-eating enzymes, the world can reduce its reliance on traditional recycling and take steps towards a greener future.

 

 

References

Kokkinidis, T. (2022, May 5). Plastic Eating Enzyme Could Help Reduce World Pollution. GreekReporter. https://greekreporter.com/2022/05/05/plastic-eating-enzyme/

Marshall, M. (2022, February 5). How ‘super-enzymes’ that eat plastics could curb our waste problem. TheGuardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/05/how-super-enzymes-that-eat-plastics-could-curb-our-waste-problem

Muresianu, T. (2022, May 28). Why haven’t plastic-eating bacteria fixed the plastic problem yet?. FreeThink. https://www.freethink.com/energy/plastic-eating-bacteria#:~:text=They%20cost%20too%20much.,plastic%20is%20already%20really%20cheap.

Snider, M. (2022, May 3). A plastic-eating enzyme could help clean up landfills by breaking down bottles, containers. USAToday. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/05/03/plastic-eating-enzyme-pollution/9633254002/

UT News. (2022, April 27). Plastic-eating Enzyme Could Eliminate Billions of Tons of Landfill Waste. https://news.utexas.edu/2022/04/27/plastic-eating-enzyme-could-eliminate-billions-of-tons-of-landfill-waste/

Vetter, D. (2022, April 28). This AI-Designed Enzyme Can Devour Plastic Trash In Hours: Video. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrvetter/2022/04/28/scientists-use-ai-to-make-an-enzyme-that-eats-plastic-trash-in-hours-video/?sh=c9d7a05da6b7