BeboSep 30, 2023

We are just getting started’: the plastic-eating bacteria that could change the world

https://literature.cafe/post/2003549

We are just getting started’: the plastic-eating bacteria that could change the world - literature.cafe

When a microbe was found munching on a plastic bottle in a rubbish dump, it promised a recycling revolution. Now scientists are attempting to turbocharge those powers in a bid to solve our waste crisis. But will it work?

Show threadmqvisionary
Who knows what its consequences are? How about a simpler approach, like reducing plastic use maybe instead of some pie in the sky project?
Sep 30, 2023 at 2:57pmWeb
Show threadSkuaSep 30, 2023
We do probably want both. Even if we end plastic production completely tomorrow, we need to work out a way to clean up all the plastic we've already dumped all over the world
Show threadTropicalDingdongSep 30, 2023

yeah but one of them we can do right now with minimum consequences and the other is provocative with no clear path to viability and no real understanding of the consequences.

We should prob just leave any existing plastic as plastic wherever it lay instead of turning it into CO2. Burying it is a better idea than emitting it.

Show threadtrilobiteOct 7, 2023
I agree. We want both. Its like water consumption needs which keep increasing. We want to reduce demand and increase leakage reduction rather than take more water out of the environment. We’re making a mess of this planet because our lives are based on the assumption of eternal growth.
Show threadExaltedWarriorSep 30, 2023
Both is good, but even stopping all plastic today and picking up every piece of trash we can grab with our hands won’t clean up the microplastics that are already in the environment.
Show threadguyrocketSep 30, 2023
I agree. However, the most important reason to reduce plastics is because of the health effects of microplastics. Waste is probably the second priority in my mind.
Show threadcmbabulSep 30, 2023
I would say because the vast majority of plastics are made from fossil fuels and contribute to global warming, microplastics are bad too though
Show threadFaceDeerSep 30, 2023
This is why research is being done. The "pie in the sky project" you're objecting to is intended to answer the very question you're asking.
Show threadV17Sep 30, 2023
What kind of question even is that? Reducing plastic enough and getting rid of the amount that's already in the environment without new technological solutions is nothing but fantasy at this moment.
Show threadIMongooseSep 30, 2023
Mfw the bacteria evolve to turn plastic into methane 🔥 💀 🔥
Show threadFaceDeerSep 30, 2023

Mfw cows are producing 300 times as much methane as there is plastic being produced in total: 😐

Check the actual numbers before getting so concerned.

Show threadIMongooseOct 1, 2023

YFW you don’t even check the numbers you are chastising me for not checking and are wildly incorrect 🤡:

www.statista.com/topics/…/global-plastic-waste/#t…

400 million metric tons of plastic per year produced

statista.com/…/cattle-methane-emissions-worldwide…

75 million metric tons of methan from cow farts per year

Topic: Global plastic waste

Find up-to-date statistics and facts about plastic waste worldwide

Statista
Show threadsabSep 30, 2023

Making a nuclear bomb is much easier than keeping people from using it once it's made.

Natural science is difficult, but getting people to do the right thing is almost impossible.

Show threadTheGreenGolemSep 30, 2023
Let’s be real: humanity will never do anything that even slightly inconveniences us. We need to solve our problems with “power”: microplastic-eating bacteria, blocking the sun, creating fresh water from salt water, terraforming another planet, anything but convincing the crowds to stop their shit.
Show threadsourSep 30, 2023
do you mean not making it
Show threadstarman2112Sep 30, 2023

Who knows what its consequences are?

That’s why they’re doing research genius

Show threadÐ Greıt Þu̇mpkinSep 30, 2023
As if the micro plastics crisis hasn’t already made the “pie in the sky” solution a necessity at this point
Show threadClassySep 30, 2023
With how heavily integrated plastics are into EVERYTHING in our society, I think that’s not necessarily the “simpler” approach, even if I agree that it’s vital.
Show threadwebghost0101Sep 30, 2023

The most ideal situation is if we archieve 100% recycling.

In reality no thing can disappear, both matter and energy just change form. We only need to look at nature for proof that 100% reusing off matter and energy is feasible. Even our “waste” wasn’t wasted.

These microbes are yet another key in the puzzle to obtain the next breakthrough. Once we master industrial chains with full conservation of matter and energy the cost of creating things will become negligible.

Show threadTruck_kunOct 1, 2023

I despise how many stores have stopped offering paper bags. I don’t want an extra thick disposable plastic bag you claim is reusable for regulatory purposes, and won’t actually be reused by most people, because they end up with so many that they are a drop in replacement for the older thinner plastic bags.

Just give me paper bags back. They are easily recyclable, or compostable if you put your compostables in it.

Show threadptmanOct 2, 2023
Paper bags are worse, except maybe for microplastics. But they take more resources to create, and aren’t as recyclable as good plastic bags. You can use a canvas bag, but that takes even more resources to create. So you have to use the same canvas bag for years