24 Jan 2023 --- Research from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) has found that the bacterium Rhodococcus ruber eats and digests plastic. Study author Maaike Goudriaan says the findings are not a potential solution for the world’s plastic pollution issues but explain where the “missing plastic” has gone. The study used plastic in artificial seawater in a laboratory, and Goudriaan calculated that bacteria could break down about 1% of the fed plastic per year into CO2 and other “harmless” substances.
