This biotech company has engineered a microbe that accelerates the break-down of some plastics.
By Caden Elsesser
Plastic rarely ends up where we think it does.
Instead of being recycled, most of the plastic ever produced has ended up in landfills, incinerators, or in the environment, where poses serious threats to wildlife. A 2024 study found that 97% of Antarctic birds and 90% of Arctic birds found to have ingested plastic. But it also affects humans. On average, people across the globe consumes 5 grams of plastic per week. That’s like eating a credit card every week with your Sunday roast.
Of course, we can blame inadequate waste management infrastructure and a linear economy that fails to reuse resources. But part of the problem also lies in what plastic is.
A single plastic bottle takes anywhere from 450 to 1000 years to degrade in the ocean. This leaves it up to humans to properly dispose of it, but even then, it’s hard for us to break it down. There are thousands of different types of plastics, each with different chemical compositions. Each of them require specific systems, methods and technologies to recycle. This drives up costs and hinders widespread adoption.
Fortunately, there is a slow but significant transition away from plastic taking place, with natural and biodegradable materials like mycelium and seaweed leading the charge. But still, there remains over 170 trillion pieces of plastic in our oceans alone.
So, how do we get rid of plastic if we can’t recycle it?
Boston-based startup, Breaking, uses biology to eliminate plastic. Scientists Sukanya Punthambaker and Vaskar Gnyawali, from the Wyss Institute discovered microorganisms that feed off the multiple major types of plastic (polyesters, polyolefins, and polyamides) as the sole carbon and energy source for its growth. Breaking has called it Microbe X-32 and has plans to deploy the microorganism worldwide.
It’s a partial solution to the question I started with: “How do we get rid of plastic if we can’t recycle it?”. Microbe X-32 essentially eats plastics by accelerating the breakdown of large plastics, microplastics, and even nano plastics. What would take 500 years in nature, this microbe can do in weeks.
But while Microbe X-32 shows great promise, it’s not a perfect or complete solution. If misused, it could be used as a way for companies to avoid taking real responsibility—similar to ‘greenwashing’—while continuing the deeper problem of producing and consuming too much plastic.
The root causes, like overproduction by corporations and inadequate waste management systems, need big social and economic changes that won’t happen overnight. Without these, companies might just keep making the same amount of plastic and rely on Microbe X-32 as a band-aid.
Still, Breaking’s discovery offers a fresh and exciting way to tackle plastic pollution. The natural by-products from the microbe breaking down plastic could be turned into useful things like biofuels, biodegradable plastics, and valuable chemicals. Unlike recycling, which often uses a lot of energy and isn’t very efficient, this process turns plastic waste directly into useful resources, benefiting both the environment and the economy.
This discovery is still in its early stages but has clear potential. If used widely, especially in countries with a lot of plastic waste, Microbe X-32 could change how we handle plastic pollution on land and at sea. It may not solve the crisis entirely, but it gives hope that future generations might enjoy the same clean parks and beaches we once did.