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Plastic Fantastic

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We are almost there, folks. Very soon, it’s time to let your hearts be light, relax by the jolly fire and indulge in all those traditional yuletide delights. One of the favourites, of course, is wrapping (and unwrapping) Christmas presents. So, I have decided to unwrap an early virtual gift for you, a gift of hope. After all, it has been another rather gloomy year of never-ending pandemic waves and frightening IPCC reveals, followed by an underwhelming Scottish COP. It is easy to despair, retreating to Professor Bendell’s Deep Adaptation paper and the annual reassessment of “work and life in the face of an inevitable near-term social collapse due to climate change”.

I tell you, hope deficiency is just as unappealing as the customary vitamin-D one that sun-deprived Nordic people succumb to this time of the year, and potentially much more dangerous. So, I shall aspire to cheer you up with the news of scientific research showing nature’s marvellous ability to heal itself. May it bring you some much-needed hope.

This little bundle of joyous findings comes courtesy of researchers[1] from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. Granted, the title of their scientific paper doesn’t sound particularly exciting: Plastic-Degrading Potential across the Global Microbiome Correlates with Recent Pollution Trends. Just mentioning plastic pollution floods my mind’s eye with a kaleidoscope of disturbing NatGeo-like images: a turtle entangled in a discarded fishing net, a scenic coastline filled with PET bottles, or the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Evoking those vivid pictures is hardly the best way to get in the mood for Christmas.

But don’t be quick to judge a book by its cover, or this gift by its wrapping. In my popular-scientific interpretation, at least, the findings of the Chalmers team are truly heart-warming. After analysing millions of bacterial DNA samples from hundreds of locations worldwide, the scientists found evidence that nature is responding to the pressure we foolish humans put on it. The quantity and diversity of plastic-degrading enzymes are increasing, and it seems this is happening proportionately to local levels of plastic pollution. So, while we’re flooding the oceans and saturating the soil with ever-more imaginative plastics, microbial enzymes, like Santa’s tiny little helpers, are busy developing mechanisms to dispose of our garbage. Now, isn’t that something?

“The next step would be to test the most promising enzyme candidates in the lab to closely investigate their properties and the rate of plastic degradation they can achieve. From there you could engineer microbial communities with targeted degrading functions for specific polymer types,” explains Aleksej Zelezniak. Yes, by all means, let’s help the busy little fellas (I’m referring to the enzymes, not the researchers, of course)!

Meanwhile, and before you accuse me of being overly optimistic, I’m not saying this absolves us from the duty of addressing the plastic problem’s root cause. Do your bit. Use and reuse your plastic bags wisely and dispose of them correctly. Support the Ocean Cleanup or other similar initiatives. Be good, in other words. Santa is watching extra closely this time of the year, remember?

[1] Thank you for the uplifting news, Jan Zrimec, Mariia Kokina, Sara Jonasson, Francisco Zorrilla, Aleksej Zelezniak!

Image courtesy of Erika Wittlieb

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