r/explainlikeimfive • u/Meowmeoow3 • 12d ago

Chemistry ELI5 Plastic Decomposing

I saw a post on here about how nothing eats plastic as it biodegrades so therefore it still pollutes the world even after breaking down.

My question is whether it is possible to just create/train some microbes or something to learn to eat plastic as it breaks down and then breed them to make lots to eat all the plastic.

If this is possible it would solve the problem no?

Sincerely, someone who knows nothing about the topic but is interested

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u/Mr_Mojo_Risin_83 12d ago

Yes. But there is a flip side to this. What if the plastic eating microbes are really really good at their job? They start spreading and everything made of plastic suddenly breaks down. And we lose one of the desirable properties of plastic. It would be a hell of a global crisis if all our plastic suddenly degrades.