Plastic takes thousands of years to decompose -- but 16-year-old science fair contestant Daniel Burd made it happen in just three months. Burd says this should be easy on an industrial scale: all that's needed is a fermenter, a growth medium and plastic, and the bacteria themselves provide most of the energy by producing heat as they eat. The only waste is water and a bit of carbon dioxide. Used on a large scale this could have a huge impact on waste management and cleaning up the world.
topics:
Earth and Science,
Environment,
Science,
Pollution,
Plastic,
Plastic Bags,
Breakthrough
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- nimaneems
- added this
- added May 24, 2008
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i'm no scientist, but there are plenty out there. Why didnt they figure this out already?
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- stephenthomson
- 8 months ago
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Thats not quite true..as at our beach every season you can see the disintegrated bags that are returning to where they came from..within a few weeks..so you cannot believe everything you read can you?
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