Researchers have engineered a microbe capable of breaking down PET plastic while simultaneously generating usable electrical current — a potential two-in-one breakthrough.
Every year, the world produces around 400 million tonnes of plastic, and a significant fraction of it ends up in the environment. A new study from the University of Edinburgh has engineered a strain of bacteria that not only degrades PET plastic — the type used in drinks bottles — but does so while releasing electrons that can be captured as electrical current.
PET (polyethylene terephthalate) is one of the most common plastics in the world, and also one of the most persistent. The engineered bacteria produce a modified version of PETase — an enzyme first discovered in a Japanese recycling facility in 2016 — that is more thermally stable and twice as fast at breaking the polymer's chemical bonds. The resulting breakdown products, terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol, are then fed into the bacteria's respiratory chain, which the research team connected to an external electrode.
The results are compelling in a controlled lab setting, but the researchers are candid about the distance between proof-of-concept and real-world deployment. Real plastic waste is often contaminated with food residue, colourants, and mixed polymers — conditions the bacteria have not yet been tested under. The team is now working on making the strain more robust and is exploring immobilisation techniques that would allow the bacteria to function in a flow-through reactor system.
"We are not claiming we have solved plastic pollution. We have shown it is possible to degrade plastic and harvest energy simultaneously. That is new."
— Lead researcher, University of Edinburgh, 2026