The petrochemical industry produces more than 79.8 million tonnes of polyethylene, making it the most common plastic in the world. Scientists have found a new way to upcycle it, according to a study published in Science on Thursday. It could help deal with the growing plastic pollution crisis.
A gross fact of life is that we’re all ingesting plastic. Turtles eat plastic. Birds eat plastic. And one study found that humans eat a credit card worth of plastic each week. Now, scientists have engineered enzymes to eat plastic, too — but that may actually be a good thing.
Plastic garbage floating on the ocean may draw the most outrage, but it accounts for just 1 per cent of the 9.1 million tonnes of plastic that get into the world’s oceans every year. The rest of it ends up in the deep ocean, and new research has revealed where…