On May 10, scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) published a study in Frontiers in Microbiology, revealing the existence of microbes that can degrade plastics at 15°C which have the potential to be revolutionary in microbial recycling.
Temperature is a key element that has a large impact on biodegradation rates, but until now, microbial plastic degradation has, for the most part, been studied at temperature above 20°C. The fact that these microbial strains are cold-adapted is significant because less energy is required for the plastic degradation process, so it is more sustainable than previous efforts to break down plastic.
In total, 19 strains of bacteria and 15 strains of fungi were extracted from plastics in areas in the Alps and the Arctic. The scientists allowed the microbes to grow as single strain cultures in the laboratory at 15°C, in darkness, and then they were tested on different types of plastic to identify if they could degrade them.