> “The next step would be to test the most promising enzyme candidates in the lab to closely investigate their properties and the rate of plastic degradation th

> “The next step would be to test the most promising enzyme candidates in the lab to closely investigate their properties and the rate of plastic degradation they can achieve,” said Zelezniak. “From there you could engineer microbial communities with targeted degrading functions for specific polymer types.” John Todd has been working on ecologies (in a vat) that can process waste for over fifty years now. Among his accomplishments was developing an ecology that can break down DDT in a matter of weeks, instead of years. The main thing he does is drawing from all five of the major kingdoms together, and have them self-organize around the waste being processed. (https://www.toddecological.com/about https://www.toddecological.com/about) With the self-organization, it's not always necessary to model and engineer everything.