Team:Imperial College

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Revision as of 23:09, 11 September 2013 by Neilthomson (Talk | contribs)

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

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. 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 Sponsors

TueSponsorsEppendorf.png 125px Invitrogen.jpg Geneart.jpg CSynBI.JPG