This bacteria eats plastic
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0:02 - 0:05Plastics: you know about them,
you may not love them, -
0:05 - 0:09but chances are
you use them every single day. -
0:10 - 0:13By 2050, researchers estimate
-
0:13 - 0:16that there will be more plastic
in the ocean than fish. -
0:17 - 0:19Despite our best efforts,
-
0:19 - 0:25only nine percent of all plastic we use
winds up being recycled. -
0:25 - 0:27And even worse,
-
0:27 - 0:30plastic is incredibly tough and durable
-
0:30 - 0:31and researchers estimate
-
0:31 - 0:36that it can take anywhere
from 500 to 5,000 years -
0:36 - 0:38to fully break down.
-
0:38 - 0:43It leaches harmful chemical contaminants
into our oceans, our soil, -
0:43 - 0:48our food, our water, and into us.
-
0:49 - 0:53So how did we wind up
with so much plastic waste? -
0:53 - 0:55Well, it's simple.
-
0:55 - 1:00Plastic is cheap, durable,
adaptable, and it's everywhere. -
1:01 - 1:02But the good news is
-
1:02 - 1:07there's something else that's cheap,
durable, adaptable and everywhere. -
1:07 - 1:10And my research shows
it may even be able to help us -
1:10 - 1:12with our plastic pollution problem.
-
1:13 - 1:16I'm talking about bacteria.
-
1:17 - 1:22Bacteria are microscopic living beings
invisible to the naked eye -
1:22 - 1:23that live everywhere,
-
1:23 - 1:27in all sorts of diverse
and extreme environments, -
1:27 - 1:30from the human gut, to soil, to skin,
-
1:30 - 1:35to vents in the ocean floor, reaching
temperatures of 700 degrees Fahrenheit. -
1:35 - 1:37Bacteria live everywhere,
-
1:37 - 1:40in all sorts of diverse
and extreme environments. -
1:40 - 1:45And as such, they have to get
pretty creative with their food sources. -
1:46 - 1:48There's also a lot of them.
-
1:48 - 1:53Researchers estimate that there are
roughly five million trillion trillion -- -
1:53 - 1:59that's a five with 30 zeros after it --
bacteria on the planet. -
2:00 - 2:03Now, considering that we humans produce
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2:03 - 2:07300 million tons of new plastic each year,
-
2:07 - 2:10I'd say that our plastic numbers
-
2:10 - 2:13are looking pretty
comparable to bacteria's. -
2:14 - 2:16So, after noticing this
-
2:16 - 2:19and after learning
about all of the creative ways -
2:19 - 2:21that bacteria find food,
-
2:21 - 2:23I started to think:
-
2:23 - 2:26could bacteria in
plastic-polluted environments -
2:26 - 2:29have figured out
how to use plastic for food? -
2:30 - 2:35Well, this is the question that I decided
to pursue a couple of years ago. -
2:35 - 2:37Now, fortunately for me,
-
2:37 - 2:41I'm from one of the most
polluted cities in America, -
2:41 - 2:42Houston, Texas.
-
2:42 - 2:44(Laughs)
-
2:44 - 2:45In my hometown alone,
-
2:45 - 2:49there are seven EPA-designated
Superfund sites. -
2:50 - 2:53These are sites that are so polluted,
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2:53 - 2:57that the government has deemed
their cleanup a national priority. -
2:58 - 3:01So I decided to trek around to these sites
-
3:01 - 3:05and collect soil samples
teeming with bacteria. -
3:05 - 3:07I started toying with a protocol,
-
3:07 - 3:10which is fancy science talk for a recipe.
-
3:10 - 3:14And what I was trying to cook up
was a carbon-free media, -
3:14 - 3:17or a food-free environment.
-
3:17 - 3:20An environment without the usual
carbons, or food, -
3:20 - 3:23that bacteria, like us humans,
need to live. -
3:24 - 3:25Now, in this environment,
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3:25 - 3:29I would provide my bacteria
with a sole carbon, or food, source. -
3:30 - 3:34I would feed my bacteria
polyethylene terephthalate, -
3:34 - 3:37or PET plastic.
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3:38 - 3:43PET plastic is the most widely produced
plastic in the world. -
3:43 - 3:46It's used in all sorts
of food and drink containers, -
3:46 - 3:50with the most notorious example
being plastic water bottles, -
3:50 - 3:56of which we humans currently go through
at a rate of one million per minute. -
3:58 - 4:00So, what I would be doing,
-
4:00 - 4:05is essentially putting my bacteria
on a forced diet of PET plastic -
4:05 - 4:10and seeing which, if any,
might survive or, hopefully, thrive. -
4:11 - 4:14See, this type of experiment
would act as a screen -
4:14 - 4:18for bacteria that had adapted
to their plastic-polluted environment -
4:18 - 4:22and evolved the incredibly cool
ability to eat PET plastic. -
4:23 - 4:25And using this screen,
-
4:25 - 4:28I was able to find some bacteria
that had done just that. -
4:29 - 4:34These bacteria had figured out
how to eat PET plastic. -
4:37 - 4:39So how do these bacteria do this?
-
4:40 - 4:42Well, it's actually pretty simple.
-
4:42 - 4:46Just as we humans digest carbon or food
into chunks of sugar -
4:46 - 4:48that we then use for energy,
-
4:48 - 4:50so too do my bacteria.
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4:51 - 4:56My bacteria, however, have figured out
how to do this digestion process -
4:56 - 4:59to big, tough, durable PET plastic.
-
5:00 - 5:03Now, to do this,
my bacteria use a special version -
5:03 - 5:05of what's called an enzyme.
-
5:05 - 5:09Now, enzymes are simply compounds
that exist in all living things. -
5:10 - 5:12There are many different types of enzymes,
-
5:12 - 5:15but basically, they make
processes go forward, -
5:15 - 5:17such as the digestion of food into energy.
-
5:18 - 5:22For instance, we humans
have an enzyme called an amylase -
5:22 - 5:26that helps us digest
complex starches, such as bread, -
5:26 - 5:29into small chunks of sugar
that we can then use for energy. -
5:30 - 5:34Now, my bacteria have
a special enzyme called a lipase -
5:34 - 5:38that binds to big, tough,
durable PET plastic -
5:38 - 5:40and helps break it
into small chunks of sugar -
5:40 - 5:43that my bacteria can then use for energy.
-
5:44 - 5:46So basically,
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5:46 - 5:50PET plastic goes from being
a big, tough, long-lasting pollutant -
5:50 - 5:53to a tasty meal for my bacteria.
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5:55 - 5:57Sounds pretty cool, right?
-
5:58 - 6:03And I think, given the current scope
of our plastic pollution problem, -
6:03 - 6:05I think it sounds pretty useful.
-
6:06 - 6:08The statistics I shared with you
-
6:08 - 6:12on just how much plastic waste
has accumulated on our planet -
6:12 - 6:14are daunting.
-
6:14 - 6:16They're scary.
-
6:16 - 6:17And I think they highlight
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6:17 - 6:21that while reducing, reusing
and recycling are important, -
6:22 - 6:25they alone are not going to be enough
to solve this problem. -
6:26 - 6:31And this is where I think bacteria
might be able to help us out. -
6:32 - 6:36But I do understand
why the concept of bacterial help -
6:36 - 6:38might make some people a little nervous.
-
6:38 - 6:44After all, if plastic is everywhere
and these bacteria eat plastic, -
6:44 - 6:47isn't there a risk of these bacteria
getting out in the environment -
6:47 - 6:49and wreaking havoc?
-
6:50 - 6:54Well, the short answer is no,
and I'll tell you why. -
6:54 - 6:58These bacteria are already
in the environment. -
6:58 - 7:03The bacteria in my research
are not genetically modified frankenbugs. -
7:04 - 7:07These are naturally occurring bacteria
-
7:07 - 7:10that have simply adapted
to their plastic-polluted environment -
7:10 - 7:15and evolved the incredibly gnarly
ability to eat PET plastic. -
7:16 - 7:22So the process of bacteria eating plastic
is actually a natural one. -
7:22 - 7:24But it's an incredibly slow process.
-
7:24 - 7:27And there remains a lot of work to be done
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7:27 - 7:31to figure out how to speed up
this process to a useful pace. -
7:32 - 7:35My research is currently
looking at ways of doing this -
7:35 - 7:39through a series of UV,
or ultraviolet, pretreatments, -
7:39 - 7:43which basically means
we blast PET plastic with sunlight. -
7:44 - 7:49We do this because sunlight
acts a bit like tenderizer on a steak, -
7:49 - 7:53turning the big, tough,
durable bonds in PET plastic -
7:53 - 7:57a bit softer and a bit easier
for my bacteria to chew on. -
7:58 - 8:01Ultimately, what my research hopes to do
-
8:01 - 8:05is create an industrial-scale
contained carbon-free system, -
8:05 - 8:08similar to a compost heap,
-
8:08 - 8:11where these bacteria can thrive
in a contained system, -
8:11 - 8:15where their sole food source
is PET plastic waste. -
8:16 - 8:21Imagine one day being able to dispose
of all of your plastic waste -
8:21 - 8:23in a bin at the curb
-
8:23 - 8:28that you knew was bound for a dedicated
bacteria-powered plastic waste facility. -
8:30 - 8:34I think with some hard work
this is an achievable reality. -
8:35 - 8:39Plastic-eating bacteria is not a cure-all.
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8:39 - 8:43But given the current statistics,
it's clear that we humans, -
8:43 - 8:45we could use a little help
with this problem. -
8:46 - 8:48Because people,
-
8:48 - 8:51we possess a pressing problem
of plastic pollution. -
8:51 - 8:56And bacteria might be
a really important part of the solution. -
8:56 - 8:57Thank you.
-
8:57 - 9:00(Applause)
- Title:
- This bacteria eats plastic
- Speaker:
- Morgan Vague
- Description:
-
Humans produce 300 million tons of new plastic each year -- yet, despite our best efforts, less than 10 percent of it ends up being recycled. Is there a better way to deal with all this waste? Microbiologist Morgan Vague studies bacteria that, through some creative adaptations, have evolved the unexpected ability to eat plastic -- and could help us solve our growing pollution problem.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 09:13
Oliver Friedman edited English subtitles for These bacteria eat plastic | ||
Oliver Friedman edited English subtitles for These bacteria eat plastic | ||
Oliver Friedman edited English subtitles for These bacteria eat plastic | ||
Oliver Friedman approved English subtitles for These bacteria eat plastic | ||
Oliver Friedman edited English subtitles for These bacteria eat plastic | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz accepted English subtitles for These bacteria eat plastic | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for These bacteria eat plastic | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for These bacteria eat plastic |