On Mar. 11, 2016, Japanese scientists announced they had discovered a species of bacteria that was “eating” its way through plastic bottles. Normally, bacteria spend their time absorbing dead organic matter, but Ideonella sakaiensis has developed a taste for a certain type of plastic called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The study was published in Science.

Bacteria isolated from outside a bottle-recycling facility can break down and metabolize plastic. The proliferation of plastics in consumer products, from bottles to clothing, has resulted in the release of countless tons of plastics into the environment. Yoshida et al. show how the biodegradation of plastics by specialized bacteria could be a viable bioremediation strategy (see the Perspective by Bornscheuer).

The new species, Ideonella sakaiensis, breaks down the plastic by using two enzymes to hydrolyze PET and a primary reaction intermediate, eventually yielding basic building blocks for growth.