Cows' stomachs can break down hard-to-recycle plastic, study finds

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Researchers in Austria may have found an unlikely solution to the problem of plastic pollution: cows, and the microbes found inside their stomachs.

Researchers from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, the Austrian Center of Industrial Biotechnology and the University of Innsbruck found that common plastics could be broken down when exposed to rumen, the matter found in the largest part of a cow's stomach.

The researchers tested the effect of rumen on three types of plastic -- polyethylene terephthalate , polybutylene adipate terephthalate and polyethylene furanoate .Professor Georg Gübitz, from BOKU, told CNN that rumen could break down plastics in"several hours" -- and that it could break down some of the plastics entirely when treated with it long enough.

"But longer term it will make more sense to produce the responsible enzymes and even further enhance their activity by using genetic engineering," he added.

 

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