Team:Imperial College

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-	Waste is an inevitable product of the lives many of us wish to lead. From simple daily routines to essential activities such as agriculture, we produce huge amounts of material which needs somewhere to go or something to be done with.	+	Accumulation of waste represents a considerable problem to humanity. Over the next 50 years, the global community will produce approximately 2 trillion tonnes of waste, or 2.5 times the weight of Mount Everest. Traditionally, mixed non-recyclable waste is sent to landfill or for incineration, both of which result in environmental damage. The detrimental effects are perpetrated by the plastic degradation into toxic byproducts and the production of greenhouse gases by these processes. As an alternative we propose to upcycle this mixed waste into the bioplastic poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (P3HB) to create a closed loop recycling system. Our engineered E. coli will operate within sealed bioreactors. In the future we picture the use of our system in a variety of contexts as part of our M.A.P.L.E. (Modular And Plastic Looping E.coli) system.
-	Our focus is on plastic waste due to its long life in the environment and the toxic byproducts of its degradation which negatively impact upon millions of people’s health and quality of life. It also poses unknown risks for the global ecosystem.	+
-	The aim is to produce a biological cycle of plastic degradation and production - complete biological recycling. We are investigating how this will change the way we deal with plastic waste and importantly, the way we think about it.	+
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Revision as of 10:37, 2 September 2013

• Project: Plasticity
  • At a glance
  • Waste Issue
  • M.A.P.L.E. Modules
    • M1: Resource-full Waste
    • M2: Plastic Fantastic
  • Bioplastic applications
• Human Practices
  • M.A.P.L.E
  • Industrial Implementation
  • Social Challenge
  • Communicating our Project
  • Project Evolution
• Achievements
  • Judging Criteria
  • Main Results
  • Collaborations
  • Biobricks
• In the Lab
  • Safety
  • Lab book
  • Modelling Notes
    • Introduction
    • Beta amyloid degradation
  • Data
    • Growth Assays
    • Western Blot
    • Enzyme Kinetics
    • PHB production
    • 3HB assay
    • Clearing Assays
    • Electron microscopy
  • Protocols
• Team
  • Students
  • Advisors
  • Sponsors
  • Attributions

We are engineering microbes to make environmentally friendly plastics from rubbish.

Europe's Newest Mountain, Mount Wasted

Production of the red pigment by stress induction. MG1655 were grown with LB media and sterile filtrated WCM for 48 hours.

Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF)

(A) WCM precursor material, this sterilised media made from LB and SRF was used to produce all WCM utilised. (B) Cells containing mCherry pigment grown in SRF (A) over 3 days, then streaked in a qualitative assay to check for growth. (C) mCherry cells were streaked again after 7 days growth in SRF.

(A) SRF in PBS (phosphate buffered saline), a buffer. We can see from this experiment whether our bacteria can grow solely on the waste SRF. (B) Cells containing mCherry pigment grown in SRF (A) over 3 days, then streaked in a qualitative assay to check for growth. (C) mCherry cells were streaked again after 6 days growth in SRF.

Cultured bacteria performing arts.

Project description

Accumulation of waste represents a considerable problem to humanity. Over the next 50 years, the global community will produce approximately 2 trillion tonnes of waste, or 2.5 times the weight of Mount Everest. Traditionally, mixed non-recyclable waste is sent to landfill or for incineration, both of which result in environmental damage. The detrimental effects are perpetrated by the plastic degradation into toxic byproducts and the production of greenhouse gases by these processes. As an alternative we propose to upcycle this mixed waste into the bioplastic poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (P3HB) to create a closed loop recycling system. Our engineered E. coli will operate within sealed bioreactors. In the future we picture the use of our system in a variety of contexts as part of our M.A.P.L.E. (Modular And Plastic Looping E.coli) system.

Our Supporters

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