21/06/21 – A paper describing the efficient enzyme-based hydrolysis of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic waste has been published by our partners at the University of Leipzig. A novel polyester hydrolase, isolated from plant composts, was shown to be highly efficient at degrading amorphous PET films and post-consumer PET thermoform packaging without needing energy-intensive pre-treatments. Furthermore, the released terephthalic acid (TPA) was used for virgin PET synthesis thus demonstrating a closed-loop recycling process with a low carbon footprint and a circular approach for tackling plastic waste. You can find the link to the paper here.
