Replacing Plastic: Can Bacteria Help Us Break The Habit?

June 17, 2019btollesonRSS Sample

Anne Schauer-Gimenez (from left) Allison Pieja and Molly Morse of Mango Materials stand next to the biopolymer fermenter at a sewage treatment plant next to San Francisco Bay. The fermenter feeds bacteria the methane they need to produce a biological form of plastic.

Entrepreneurs are eager to find substitutes for plastic that naturally degrade. One option is a “natural” plastic made by microbes and then eaten by them. But the process is still in the early days.

(Image credit: Chris Joyce/NPR)