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
Breakthrough in polyurethane bio-recycling…
28/07/21 - A paper documenting an important step towards the development of a sustainable recycling pathway for polyurethane (PU) has been published by the Bioteam at the University of Strasbourg. [...]
MIPLACE represented at the European Biotechnology and Society Seminar Series 2021
21/07/21 - MIPLACE was represented at the recent European Biotechnology and Society Seminar Series that formed part of the ERA CoBioTech’s work on responsible research and innovation (RRI) and biotechnology. [...]
MIPLACE wins at the EBNetUK ECR Conference
14/07/21 – Many congratulations to our team member, Alice Banks (ICL), for being awarded a prize at the recent Environmental Biotechnology Network Early Career Researcher (EBNetUK ECR) Conference. Alice was [...]
MIPLACE highlighted in Nature Biotechnology
24/05/20 - 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. [...]
Achieving a circular bioeconomy for plastics
08/07/21 – The opinion piece ‘Achieving a circular bioeconomy for plastics’ recently published in the prestigious journal Science argues for having an integrated plastic waste management system within the circular [...]
Talking responsible research and innovation (RRI) and stakeholder engagement
06/07/21 - Jose Jimenez (Project Coordinator) and Joanne Benton (Project Manager) will be talking about MIPLACE, responsible research and innovation (RRI) and stakeholder engagement at the European Biotechnology and Society [...]
PARTNERS
MIPLACE project is funded under the 2nd ERA BioTech Joint Transnational Call