A Mutant Enzyme That Decomposes Plastic Bottles

The scientists then adjusted the mutant enzyme to accidentally "optimize" its ability to decompose PET plastics which used to make beverage bottles. In just a few days it can begin to decompose plastic, much faster than the natural decomposition of plastics in hundreds of years time.

However, researchers are confident that the process will become faster and more widely used. "What we want to do is to use this enzyme to restore plastic products to the original ingredients, which is equivalent to recycling the plastic," Joe McGeehan said, "which means that we will no longer need to dig for oil and basically reduce the amount of plastic in the environment."

The data show that, at present 1 million plastic bottles are sold every minute in the world, and only a few of them can be recycled and most of them are flowing into the natural environment or living conditions. As a plastic bottles factory, we expect the technology can be widely used, so that we can fully enjoy the convenience life brought by plastic bottles, and do not worry about the negative impact of plastic bottles.