It can take up to 1000 years for a plastic beverage bottle to decompose in the environment, but with the findings of researchers in Japan, there may be a new way for PET (polyethylene terephthalate) to breakdown a lot faster.
Ideonella sakaiensis, a newly-discovered bacterium, is a plastic-eating micro-organism that could solve the terrifying plastic pollution that is taking over our planet; indeed, according to The Verge, “in 2013 around 56 million tons of PET [the plastic used to make soda and water bottles] were produced, but only around half of the material is ever recycled”.
