Enzyme in Laundry Detergent Unveils Breakthrough: Recycling Single-Use Plastics in 24 Hours, King’s College London Study Reveals
Scientists have developed a new approach that uses enzymes found in laundry detergents for recycling single use bio plastics in disposable items such as coffee cups and food containers .
The method, described in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science, uses the enzymes to “de-polymerise”—or break down—landfill-bound bio-plastics into soluble fragments within just 24 hour. achieving full degradation of the bio-plastic poly lactic acid (PLA) 84 times faster than industrial composting.
The research offers a widespread recycling solution for single-use PLA plastics, as the scientists at King’s College London, UK, found that in a further 24 hours at a temperature of 90 degrees Celsius, the bio-plastics break down into their chemical building blocks.
According to Environmental Action, it is estimated that in 2023 alone more than 68 million tons of plastic globally ended up in natural environments due to the imbalance between the huge volumes of plastics produced and our current capacity to manage and recycle plastic at the end of its life. A recent OECD report predicted that the amount of plastic waste produced worldwide is on track to almost triple by 2060, with around half ending up in landfill and less than a fifth recycled.
