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From 2013.igem.org

• 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

Background

Modules:

Our project is Plasticity. The project can be divided into 3 modules. Firstly, we designed a waste degradation module, which can be further sub-divided into 3 separate modules. These sub-modules are that of PolyURethane [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyurethane PUR] degradation, PolyLactic Acid [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polylactic_acid PLA] degradation, and Poly-3-HydroxyButyrate [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyhydroxybutyrate P3HB] degradation. As many plastic products are produced as mixed plastics, this conglomerate of degradative bacteria will successfully degrade petrochemical plastics and bioplastics. In addition to this, using our second module, we will have bioplastic recycling. We intend to synthesise P3HB, a bioplastic from its constituent monomers, that are in themselves, a byproduct of our degradation pathway. The third is the secretion toolkit. This will incorporate the existing secretion biobricks contained within the registry along with those that we have designed and chemically synthesised. These will be transformed into a plasmid in our chassis, E. coli. This will thus permit any future iGEM team to extract their desired secretion tags for use in their construct. With the addition of characterisation data, this will provide a thorough platform to inform decision making for secretion tags.

The Problem: Waste Mountains

Waste is a major byproduct of our free market society. Every year, over 3 billion tonnes (Gt) of waste are produced within the European Union [http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/]. This includes municipal solid waste (MSW), industrial and hazardous waste. Of this waste, 10% is plastic. Even more significantly, this represents only a fraction of the world's population, approximately 500 million live within the EU. When we look at the American figures, we see that solely industrial waste comes to around 7.6 Gt [http://www.epa.gov/wastes/nonhaz/industrial/guide/], and this figure was from the 1980s, since then it has no doubt increased per capita as it has in Europe. Frighteningly, this value does not incorporate the global waste production, which since the rise of China has expanded hugely. Much of this waste is sent to landfill. If even a fraction of this were successfully degraded and purified, this would provide both metabolites and feedstock for the production of existing petrochemical plastics and bioplastics in our bacteria. We plan to grow our E. coli within bioreactors together in order to breakdown mixed plastics into their component monomers. In so doing, we will circumvent existing problems in recycling technologies that are thwarted by contamination by even minute concentrations present in a non-pure plastic.

References

[1] http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/

[2] http://www.epa.gov/wastes/nonhaz/industrial/guide/