Harte Plastikkiller-Bakterien im Abwasser von US-Forschern entdeckt | Unter allen Kunststoffabfällen ist PET aufgrund seiner Haltbarkeit und Zersetzungsbeständigkeit besonders problematisch.

From the article: Researchers have long observed that a common family of environmental bacteria, Comamonadacae, grow on plastics littered throughout urban rivers and wastewater systems. But what, exactly, these Comamonas bacteria are doing has remained a mystery.

Now, Northwestern University-led researchers have discovered how cells of a Comamonas bacterium are breaking down plastic for food. First, they chew the plastic into small pieces, called nanoplastics. Then, they secrete a specialized enzyme that breaks down the plastic even further. Finally, the bacteria use a ring of carbon atoms from the plastic as a food source, the researchers found.

The discovery opens new possibilities for developing bacteria-based engineering solutions to help clean up difficult-to-remove plastic waste, which pollutes drinking water and harms wildlife.

The study will be published on Thursday (Oct. 3) in the journal [Environmental Science & Technology](https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.4c06645).

“We have systematically shown, for the first time, that a wastewater bacterium can take a starting plastic material, deteriorate it, fragment it, break it down and use it as a source of carbon,” said Northwestern’s Ludmilla Aristilde, who led the study. “It is amazing that this bacterium can perform that entire process, and we identified a key enzyme responsible for breaking down the plastic materials. This could be optimized and exploited to help get rid of plastics in the environment.”

Good thing PET can be recycled over and over again. Japan has a really good system for recycling PET.