A species of bacteria has been discovered by a team of Japanese researchers that is capable of eating the plastic present in the majority of disposable water bottles. This important finding will likely be instrumental in handling an annual production of over 50 million tons of this kind of plastic across the world. The kind of plastic we are talking about is called polyethylene terephalate (PET). Polyester clothing, frozen-dinner trays and blister packaging also contain this plastic.

Items made from PET are lightweight, colorless and strong. Primarily, this plastic is extremely resistant to being disintegrated by microbes, which is known as biodegradation. The bacteria were discovered by the research team from Kyoto Institute of Technology and Keio University. The team gathered 250 samples of PET-contaminated sediment, soil and wastewater from a plastic bottle recycling location.

Initially, a group of bugs was discovered by the team that disintegrated a film of PET. Further, the study finally boiled down to the discovery of one species of bacteria that resulted in the breaking down of the PET film. The species was named Ideonella sakaiensis.

The bacteria used two enzymes to disintegrate PET. The bacteria released an enzyme after coming in contact with the PET surface. This enzyme produced an intermediate chemical, which is then absorbed by the cell. This is where the second enzyme completely disintegrates the PET and provides carbon and growth energy to the bacteria.

The team further revealed that a complete community of these bacteria is capable of disintegrating a thin film of PET, operating in this manner, over a period of six weeks. The process will require the temperature to be continuously maintained at a level of 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Tracy Mincer, who studies plastics in the ocean at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, stated that it is not quite clear as to how this discovery will be able to deal with dumping of plastics into the ocean.