Scientists create artificial protein that can degrade microplastics in bottles

Re:Scientists create artificial protein that can degrade mic... by just_boost_it on Monday November 06, 2023 @12:41PM (#38165828)

It would be an interesting world if all our plastics started to rot. Water and sewerage piping is mostly plastic, there's heavy uses of plastics in electrical infrastructure, the majority of our containers, many car parts, the bulk of the housings of our electronics, building weatherproofing, most of our clothing... It would be nice to use other materials, but plastics are used because they're cheap, easy to work with, and they work well.

Also, how much plastic has been produced over the last 100 years? It also would have been nice not to have just thrown it all into a landfill, but now that it's there do we really want to release all the CO2 that's been safely locked away underground in solid plastic?

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Re:Scientists create artificial protein that can degrade mic... by no_moms_no_hugs on Monday November 06, 2023 @01:03PM (#38166165)

Plastics are largely cheap because they're bi-products of natural gas, gasoline and diesel fuel manufacturing. As demand for those fuels declines, plastics will necessarily become more expensive.

They certainly have a lot of inherent utility, but given the emerging risks to the planet's ecology and our own health, I think it's hard to see a future where we extensively use plastics to the same extent we do now.

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Re:Scientists create artificial protein that can degrade mic... by sholladay on Monday November 06, 2023 @01:37PM (#38166758)

I’d love to get a sense of how much less plastic will be made - or how much more it will cost - as renewable energy and electric vehicles replace fossil fuels. Has someone modeled this?

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