Global plastic talks collapse , no agreements have been made, why not just use bacteria that eat plastic.

[William Gaatjes]

Global plastic conference failure :
The USA, Russia and the middle east refusing to come to an agreement.
These are also the countries that pollute the most when it comes to oil winning and gas winning.

Global plastic talks collapse as countries remain deeply divided

The latest round of UN-led talks have ended in deadlock, with disputes over plastic production and recycling.

www.bbc.com

Small excerpt from text :
"
The talks were convened in 2022 in response to the mounting scientific evidence of the risks of plastic pollution to human health and the environment.
Despite the benefits of plastic to almost every sector, scientists are particularly concerned about potentially toxic chemicals they contain, which can leach out as plastics break down into smaller pieces.
Microplastics have been detected in soils, rivers, the air and even organs throughout the human body.
Countries had an original deadline to get a deal over the line at the end of December last year, but failed to meet this.
The collapse of the latest talks means they fall further behind.
Speaking on behalf of the island states, the northern Pacific nation of Palau said on Friday: "We are repeatedly returning home with insufficient progress to show our people."
"It is unjust for us to face the brunt of yet another global environmental crisis we contribute minimally to," it added.

"

and
"
The core dividing line between countries has remained the same throughout: whether the treaty should tackle plastics at source – by reducing production – or focus on managing the pollution that comes from it.
The largest oil-producing nations view plastics, which are made using fossil fuels, as a vital part of their future economies, particularly as the world begins to move away from petrol and diesel towards electric cars.
The group, which includes Saudi Arabia and Russia, argue that better waste collection and recycling infrastructure is the best way of solving the problem, a view shared by many of the producers themselves.
"Plastics are fundamental for modern life - they go in everything," said Ross Eisenberg, president of America's Plastic Makers, a trade association for the plastic production industry in the United States.
"





The guardian has a great article about the PET plastic eating bacteria Ideonella sakaiensis :

‘We are just getting started’: the plastic-eating bacteria that could change the world

The long read: When a microbe was found munching on a plastic bottle in a rubbish dump, it promised a recycling revolution. Now scientists are attempting to turbocharge those powers in a bid to solve our waste crisis. But will it work?

www.theguardian.com

Small excerpt from text :
"
In the years after their discovery, Oda and his student Kazumi Hiraga, now a professor, continued corresponding and conducting experiments. When they finally published their work in the prestigious journal Science in 2016, it emerged into a world desperate for solutions to the plastic crisis, and it was a blockbuster hit. Oda and his colleagues named the bacterium that they had discovered in the rubbish dump Ideonella sakaiensis – after the city of Sakai, where it was found – and in the paper, they described a specific enzyme that the bacterium was producing, which allowed it to break down polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the most common plastic found in clothing and packaging. The paper was reported widely in the press, and it currently has more than 1,000 scientific citations, placing it in the top 0.1% of all papers.

But the real hope is that this goes beyond a single species of bacteria that can eat a single kind of plastic. Over the past half-century, microbiology – the study of small organisms including bacteria and some fungi – has undergone a revolution that Jo Handelsman, former president of the American Society for Microbiology, and a science adviser to the Obama White House, described to me as possibly the most significant biological advance since Darwin’s discovery of evolution. We now know that micro-organisms constitute a vast, hidden world entwined with our own. We are only beginning to grasp their variety, and their often incredible powers. Many scientists have come around to Oda’s view – that for the host of seemingly intractable problems we are working on, microbes may have already begun to find a solution. All we need to do is look.
"

 

[biostud]

Global plastic conference failure :
The USA, Russia and the middle east refusing to come to an agreement.
These are also the countries that pollute the most when it comes to oil winning and gas winning.

Global plastic talks collapse as countries remain deeply divided

The latest round of UN-led talks have ended in deadlock, with disputes over plastic production and recycling.

www.bbc.com

Small excerpt from text :
"
The talks were convened in 2022 in response to the mounting scientific evidence of the risks of plastic pollution to human health and the environment.
Despite the benefits of plastic to almost every sector, scientists are particularly concerned about potentially toxic chemicals they contain, which can leach out as plastics break down into smaller pieces.
Microplastics have been detected in soils, rivers, the air and even organs throughout the human body.
Countries had an original deadline to get a deal over the line at the end of December last year, but failed to meet this.
The collapse of the latest talks means they fall further behind.
Speaking on behalf of the island states, the northern Pacific nation of Palau said on Friday: "We are repeatedly returning home with insufficient progress to show our people."
"It is unjust for us to face the brunt of yet another global environmental crisis we contribute minimally to," it added.

"

and
"
The core dividing line between countries has remained the same throughout: whether the treaty should tackle plastics at source – by reducing production – or focus on managing the pollution that comes from it.
The largest oil-producing nations view plastics, which are made using fossil fuels, as a vital part of their future economies, particularly as the world begins to move away from petrol and diesel towards electric cars.
The group, which includes Saudi Arabia and Russia, argue that better waste collection and recycling infrastructure is the best way of solving the problem, a view shared by many of the producers themselves.
"Plastics are fundamental for modern life - they go in everything," said Ross Eisenberg, president of America's Plastic Makers, a trade association for the plastic production industry in the United States.
"





The guardian has a great article about the PET plastic eating bacteria Ideonella sakaiensis :

‘We are just getting started’: the plastic-eating bacteria that could change the world

The long read: When a microbe was found munching on a plastic bottle in a rubbish dump, it promised a recycling revolution. Now scientists are attempting to turbocharge those powers in a bid to solve our waste crisis. But will it work?

www.theguardian.com

Small excerpt from text :
"
In the years after their discovery, Oda and his student Kazumi Hiraga, now a professor, continued corresponding and conducting experiments. When they finally published their work in the prestigious journal Science in 2016, it emerged into a world desperate for solutions to the plastic crisis, and it was a blockbuster hit. Oda and his colleagues named the bacterium that they had discovered in the rubbish dump Ideonella sakaiensis – after the city of Sakai, where it was found – and in the paper, they described a specific enzyme that the bacterium was producing, which allowed it to break down polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the most common plastic found in clothing and packaging. The paper was reported widely in the press, and it currently has more than 1,000 scientific citations, placing it in the top 0.1% of all papers.

But the real hope is that this goes beyond a single species of bacteria that can eat a single kind of plastic. Over the past half-century, microbiology – the study of small organisms including bacteria and some fungi – has undergone a revolution that Jo Handelsman, former president of the American Society for Microbiology, and a science adviser to the Obama White House, described to me as possibly the most significant biological advance since Darwin’s discovery of evolution. We now know that micro-organisms constitute a vast, hidden world entwined with our own. We are only beginning to grasp their variety, and their often incredible powers. Many scientists have come around to Oda’s view – that for the host of seemingly intractable problems we are working on, microbes may have already begun to find a solution. All we need to do is look.
"

Yeah will be fun to have them spreading in the wild, where you don't want your plastic degraded...

 

[Moonbeam]

By bet is that the economic value of plastic to society via the bottom line, the profit it generates, the convenience, the savings in weight, etc. will mean that the destruction it is likely doing to our own bodies and to end ecosystem in general, if they do not cause our extinction directly, but are likely contributing to it, will not matter. All of us alive, either from profit or convenience secretly are betting we will be dead before the shit hits the fan. We gives a fuck snout future children. We only live once and our needs are all that matters. The only people who will care are a tiny powerless fraction with a conscience and lack the sense to close their minds to the issue. Poof, what’s the problem?