Recyling Using Bacteria

I'm responding to Katie Lezendorf's recent commentary, in February 17th issue, concerning recycling and its impact on global warming. I can offer another solution to this recycling dilemma. Bacteria can be used to manufacture plastic.

This is not a totally new idea, but is not known to many people that this is, in fact, possible.  A few companies such as Metabolix, Inc. and Genomatica, Inc. have already made and produced products with the plastic these bacteria make, but the majority of plastic is still made with petroleum. To create this plastic, the bacteria have to be manipulated into producing the desired plastic. Though the plastic that is made, by itself, is rather weak and brittle, organic components can be add to strengthen it, such as clay. The cultures, also, have to be grown in large quantities to produce lots of plastic. This is not too much of a problem because bacteria can be manipulated rather easily and, on average, replicate every fifteen minutes. So in a matter of weeks, you'll have a substantial amount of plastic producing bacteria. The plastic that is produced from these bacteria is biodegradable. The plastic is basically made from the sugars and starches the bacteria eat, so when the plastic is thrown away, it will break down into water and carbon dioxide. It does this in a matter of months.

This process is far from perfect, but it has the potential to replace the plastics we make today with petroleum. This solution creates less pollution and happy consumers, because let's face it, Americans really like their bottled beverages.