Plastic-eating Bugs-Can Bacteria Break Down Plastic Bottles?Plastic-eating Bugs-Can Bacteria Break Down Plastic Bottles?
The Science Squad
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Downloadable Video, 2013
Current format, Downloadable Video, 2013, , All copies in use.
Downloadable Video, 2013
Current format, Downloadable Video, 2013, , All copies in use. Offered in 0 more formats
Ireland is among the highest waste producers in Europe. Our waste every year would fill Croke Park to the top of the stands! Thankfully we've moved quickly from a position of almost total reliance on landfill to a high level of recovery of certain recyclable materials, however plastic bottles have a low recycling value and a lot of these bottles (which are often non-biodegradable) end up in landfills forever. So how can we convert that waste into something that is valuable? Kevin O'Connor at UCD may have the answer, with new technology that uses a combination of chemistry to break down plastic bottles and bacteria to convert the breakdown product to a biodegradable plastic.
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