The plastic emergency
Plastics are essential materials in our lives, but they show a problem: they are difficult to degrade. As a consequence, 79% of the plastic waste is stored in landfills or released into the environment.
Taking advantage of microbes
Some bacteria can degrade common plastics such as polyethylene (PET) or polyurethane (PU) by secreting enzymes. In addition, certain species can be modified to use these materials as food to obtain energy.
A circular solution
MIPLACE will develop a process that uses plastic waste as a feedstock for engineered microbial communities. These microbes will transform it into the raw materials used to create a sustainable plastic, Bio-PU, that can enter the cycle once thrown away.
LATEST NEWS
The metabolic potential of plastics as biotechnological carbon sources
12/01/22 - Our partners at RWTH Aachen University and collaborators have recently published a paper which evaluates the potential of plastic monomers as carbon sources for biotechnology. Plastic monomers can [...]
A new method for monitoring enzymatic PET degradation
16/12/21 - MIPLACE partners at the University of Leipzig have contributed to a paper that describes a new method to monitor enzymatic PET degradation with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The method [...]
MIPLACE highlighted in Nature Biotechnology
16/12/21 - Our project has been highlighted in a perspective piece at Nature Biotechnology as one of the groundbreaking initiatives dealing with PET waste by harnessing the potential of microorganisms. You [...]
MIPLACE introduced at Northumbria University (UK)
13/12/21 - Project coordinator, Jose Jimenez, was delighted to be invited to speak at an Applied Sciences Departmental Seminar at Northumbria University, Newcastle. Jose gave a talk entitled 'Microbial integration [...]
MIPLACE partner a plenary speaker at IPSBI03
08/12/21 - MIPLACE partner, Alice Banks, was invited to take part in the recent online International Postgraduate Symposium in Biology, Biotechnology and Bioengineering (IPSBIO3) hosted by the Institute of Systems [...]
MIPLACE highlighted in seminar at Dokuz Eylul University (Turkey)
03/12/21 - MIPLACE was highlighted in an invited seminar talk “Biocatalytic Plastic Degradation” at Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey on 3 June 2021 by Wolfgang Zimmermann (University of Leipzig).
PARTNERS
MIPLACE project is funded under the 2nd ERA BioTech Joint Transnational Call