Plastic waste is harming our planet. “Plastic-eating” enzmes will in the future help us to change for the positive the image in the photo above.
At Living our Future we have been following for the last few years, the remarkale developments at Portsmouth University to develop enzymes that eat plastic. The university now has 30 scientists covering a wide range of disciplines including molecular biophysics, biochemistry, microbiology, enzyme engineering and synthetic biology, biotechnology, and more recently, polymer chemistry. Plus custom laboratories, which have the facilities required to help tackle the challenge of plastic pollution and develop enzyme-based low energy, low carbon, biorecycling solutions.
The research sits at the interface between enzymes and polymers with a focus on both pure and applied research in biocatalysis. The University of Portsmouth experts are expanding thier research and innovation activities to address the diverse range of plastics, including mixed waste streams and composites, materials that are often incinerated or end up in landfill and leak to the environment.
Learning from the natural world, we are delivering transformative enzyme-enabled solutions for the circular recycling of plastics.
Portsmouth University
Living our future will continue to follow developments at University Portsmouth and this exciting project lead by Professeur Andrew Pickford Phd.
Read more at: https://www.port.ac.uk/research/research-groups-and-centres/centre-for-enzyme-innovation
The below diagrams show the process of rycling the plastic.
