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Creating microbes for eating plastics seems like a recipe for a lot of goo....turning all our insulation, computer gear, and a billion other things in our homes

Creating microbes for eating plastics seems like a recipe for a lot of goo....turning all our insulation, computer gear, and a billion other things in our homes into microbe food seems to me poorly thought out.

userbinator 7y ago
Indeed. Imagine termites, but at a far bigger scale... Don't forget all the very important medical applications of plastics where their inertness matters --- if organisms exist that can start eating away at those, and proliferate, it could cause even more damage to human life.
- WalterBright 7y ago
  There was a recent scifi novel about this, I forgot the title. The plot was some anarchists discovered a virus that ate plastic, and released it all over the world, and caused the collapse of civilization. I don't see any big problem with burying the plastic in a landfill. Just don't dump it in the ocean.
  - lostlogin 7y ago
    Burying it doesn’t really solve anything though. And while seemingly unlikely, dumps can be damaged. A recent storm damaged one in the south of New Zealand, spreading plastic down a river and along hundreds of kilometres of coast. https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/fox-glacier-landfill-washed-storm-now-littering-beaches-hundreds-kilometres https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/fox-glacier-land...
    - WalterBright 7y ago
      > Burying it doesn’t really solve anything though. It solves it better than any of the alternatives. > And while seemingly unlikely, dumps can be damaged. Not only does it seem unlikely, it is unlikely. One case doesn't make it likely.
      - lostlogin 7y ago
        Once buried is it solved, or is it that we can’t see it? Waste plasticn needs a solution, but I don’t think that burning it is the answer. We badly need to reduce the volume created.
        lostlogin 7y ago
        That’s an awful comment. I’ll try again. Once buried is it solved, or is it that we can’t see it? Waste plastic needs a solution, but I don’t think that burying it is the answer. We badly need to reduce the volume created.
        WalterBright 7y ago
        It has to go somewhere, we can't launch it into the sun. Burying things is not a long term problem - coal is trees buried for millions of years.
  - rootw0rm 7y ago
    The Andromeda Strain, an early Michael Crichton novel, ended with the virus mutating to consume plastic...causing a jet fighter to crash IIRC.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  Imagine that suddenly, plastics can rust.
  - thatcat 7y ago
    Plastics already oxidize through UV, thermal, and hydrolysis reactions.
Retric 7y ago
Wood lasts for hundreds of years in the right environments. Similarly most plastic is not in any real risk from this.
- hdfbdtbcdg 7y ago
  You have literally no idea if this is true. Literally used in the literal sense because until such microbes exist you can't predict their behavior.
  - Retric 7y ago
    I literally know it’s true from chemistry. Polyethylene for example is a long string of hydrogen and carbon. (CH2-) Microbiology requires more than that for replication. It’s the same reason dry sugar does not get consumed by microbes.
    - strainer 7y ago
      It was too broad an assurance to base on quick chemical assessment. We have different kinds of plastics situated in many different environments. Regarding the sugar example and microbes primary need for water, from the article - "In 2016, researchers in Japan tested sludge from a recycling plant and uncovered a microbe that could completely break down films of PET to CO2 and H2O" And any opening or crack which rainwater or groundwater or seawater or dust can occasionally access will carry nutrients required for microbial life.
    - hdfbdtbcdg 7y ago
      On the table in front of me I have several food items that have not spoilt only because of refrigeration. Should I also start to keep my laptop in the fridge to prevent it rotting? Or maybe I should preserve it in vinegar etc. The problem of preservation of food only seems trivial because so many people have worked so hard solving it.
      - adrianN 7y ago
        The table in front of me would rot really quickly if I put it in a composter.

userbinator 7y ago

Indeed. Imagine termites, but at a far bigger scale... Don't forget all the very important medical applications of plastics where their inertness matters --- if organisms exist that can start eating away at those, and proliferate, it could cause even more damage to human life.

WalterBright 7y ago
There was a recent scifi novel about this, I forgot the title. The plot was some anarchists discovered a virus that ate plastic, and released it all over the world, and caused the collapse of civilization. I don't see any big problem with burying the plastic in a landfill. Just don't dump it in the ocean.
- lostlogin 7y ago
  Burying it doesn’t really solve anything though. And while seemingly unlikely, dumps can be damaged. A recent storm damaged one in the south of New Zealand, spreading plastic down a river and along hundreds of kilometres of coast. https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/fox-glacier-landfill-washed-storm-now-littering-beaches-hundreds-kilometres https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/fox-glacier-land...
  - WalterBright 7y ago
    > Burying it doesn’t really solve anything though. It solves it better than any of the alternatives. > And while seemingly unlikely, dumps can be damaged. Not only does it seem unlikely, it is unlikely. One case doesn't make it likely.
    - lostlogin 7y ago
      Once buried is it solved, or is it that we can’t see it? Waste plasticn needs a solution, but I don’t think that burning it is the answer. We badly need to reduce the volume created.
      - lostlogin 7y ago
        That’s an awful comment. I’ll try again. Once buried is it solved, or is it that we can’t see it? Waste plastic needs a solution, but I don’t think that burying it is the answer. We badly need to reduce the volume created.
        WalterBright 7y ago
        It has to go somewhere, we can't launch it into the sun. Burying things is not a long term problem - coal is trees buried for millions of years.
- rootw0rm 7y ago
  The Andromeda Strain, an early Michael Crichton novel, ended with the virus mutating to consume plastic...causing a jet fighter to crash IIRC.
TeMPOraL 7y ago
Imagine that suddenly, plastics can rust.
- thatcat 7y ago
  Plastics already oxidize through UV, thermal, and hydrolysis reactions.

Retric 7y ago

Wood lasts for hundreds of years in the right environments. Similarly most plastic is not in any real risk from this.

hdfbdtbcdg 7y ago
You have literally no idea if this is true. Literally used in the literal sense because until such microbes exist you can't predict their behavior.
- Retric 7y ago
  I literally know it’s true from chemistry. Polyethylene for example is a long string of hydrogen and carbon. (CH2-) Microbiology requires more than that for replication. It’s the same reason dry sugar does not get consumed by microbes.
  - strainer 7y ago
    It was too broad an assurance to base on quick chemical assessment. We have different kinds of plastics situated in many different environments. Regarding the sugar example and microbes primary need for water, from the article - "In 2016, researchers in Japan tested sludge from a recycling plant and uncovered a microbe that could completely break down films of PET to CO2 and H2O" And any opening or crack which rainwater or groundwater or seawater or dust can occasionally access will carry nutrients required for microbial life.
  - hdfbdtbcdg 7y ago
    On the table in front of me I have several food items that have not spoilt only because of refrigeration. Should I also start to keep my laptop in the fridge to prevent it rotting? Or maybe I should preserve it in vinegar etc. The problem of preservation of food only seems trivial because so many people have worked so hard solving it.
    - adrianN 7y ago
      The table in front of me would rot really quickly if I put it in a composter.