Researchers from Athlone Institute of Technology’s Materials Research Institute are spearheading a €5 million pan European Chinese research effort aimed at tackling plastic pollution - a global crisis of prodigious proportions. 

The Horizon 2020 research innovation project, dubbed BioICEP (Bio Innovation of a Circular Economy for Plastic), will seek to develop sustainable, environmentally-friendly alternatives to traditional petroleum-based plastic. 

A number of innovative booster technologies are at the core of this solution - accentuating, expediting, and augmenting mixed plastics degradation to levels far in excess of those current achievable. 

Drowning in plastic 

Researchers believe that it will take hundreds, if not thousands, of years for bacteria and the enzymes that they produce to evolve to a point where they can break down the long chains of molecules that compose plastic. As a result, the accumulation of plastic is causing serious problems in the environment. 

According to Dr Margaret Brennan Fournet, a foremost authority on materials science and leader of project BioICEP, there are microplastics in the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. Scientists have even found them in remote mountain ranges. 

“It’s been suggested that people are ingesting a credit card-sized amount of plastic every week,” the MRI-based researcher said. “These scientific results are only starting to come out now and every few months we’re hearing new, even more staggering results.” 

Using an innovative triple action process, Dr Brennan Fournet and the BioICEP team will attempt to accelerate the degradation of traditional plastic and turn it into biopolymers, which can be used as natural biodegradable replacement plastics. 

“In essence, we’ll be tacking in the mixed plastic waste at one end, treating it with bacteria and enzymes, recovering the molecules, fermenting them, and turning them into new bioproducts,” she explained. 

Indispensable to modern living 

In many respects, plastic’s weakness is actually its strength. It’s sheer versatility and high resource efficiency has enabled innovations across many sectors, allowing for the development of new products and solutions. 

Plastic has completely revolutionised how food is bought, stored and consumed. Its myriad applications and low production costs has ensured its indispensability to modern living. 

With dependency on petroleum-based plastic showing no sign of abating, the race is on to create viable, ecological alternatives that won’t negatively impact business or the consumer’s bottom line.  

“Our ultimate goal is not to change consumer behaviour as this alone isn’t sufficient to solve the problem. Instead, we’re trying to target manufacturers and give them a better option that won’t cost more and isn’t harmful to the environment,” Dr Brennan Fournet explained.