If You Are Reading This Article, It Means You Care About Reducing Your Waste And Minimizing Your Environmental

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Bugs across globe are evolving to eat plastic, study finds

Surprising discovery shows scale of plastic pollution and reveals enzymes that could boost recycling

The increasing amount of plastic being added to our environments has created intense selection pressure for microbes that can break down plastic for energy.

Looking at environmental DNA samples, researchers have found 30,000 different enzymes capable of digesting different types of plastic. Almost 60% did not fit into any known enzyme types.

While previous plastic-eating microbes had primarily been found in garbage dumps or recycling plants (locations with very high levels of plastic), the enzymes in this study were collected from soil and ocean water throughout the world, meaning this phenomenon is even more widespread than we thought.

The goal is to utilize these enzymes for more efficient recycling–essentially breaking plastic down into its basic building blocks to reduce or even eliminate the need for new virgin plastic. An enzyme created in 2020 is already being used to recycle plastic bottles in only a couple of hours.

Thanks to the anonymous individual who sent this in!

If you’ve been trying to go plastic free for awhile you’ve probably accumulated quite a few jars some way or another. I often buy in jars and will keep them for upcycling, but sometimes I run out of ideas on how to reuse them. These are some good ways to repurpose those jars. In addition to these some zero waste stores will take cleaned jars for people who don’t have containers but are looking for a refill. While some of these are exclusively for glass, some of these ideas work for plastic containers too! Happy upcycling!

photo credit to zerowastenerd on instagram

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