Scientists have developed “living plastics” that can be programmed to break themselves down when triggered.
Many plastic items are made for one-time use, but the materials can remain in the environment for years. Researchers are exploring a different approach: living plastics, materials built with microbes that can be activated to break down the polymer when needed.
In a study published in ACS Applied Polymer Materials, a team used two cooperating bacterial strains to fully degrade the plastic in only six days without producing microplastics.
Plastics could self-destruct
Zhuojun Dai, a corresponding author on the paper, explains that “the realization that traditional plastics persist for centuries, while many applications, like packaging, are short-lived, led us to ask: Could we build degradation directly into the material’s life cycle?”
Some microbes make enzymes that can cut long polymer chains into smaller fragments. Since plastics are polymers, researchers can potentially place those enzymes, or the microbes that produce them, directly into living plastic materials.
“By embedding these microbes, plastics could effectively ‘come alive’ and self-destruct on command, turning durability from a problem into a programmable feature,” explains Dai.
Two enzymes finished the job
Earlier efforts mostly depended on one enzyme, but Dai, Jin Geng, Dianpeng Qi and colleagues aimed to make the breakdown process more efficient. They engineered Bacillus subtilis to produce two polymer degrading enzymes that work in sequence. One enzyme cuts long polymer chains into smaller pieces at random points, while the second breaks those smaller pieces down from the ends into their monomer building blocks.
The researchers combined dormant B. subtilis spores with polycaprolactone (a polymer common in 3D printing and some surgical sutures), allowing the microbes to remain protected until activation. The living plastic that resulted had mechanical properties close to ordinary polycaprolactone films.
When the researchers added a nutrient broth heated to 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius), the spores became active and degraded the plastic completely into its basic building blocks within six days. Because the two enzymes worked together so effectively, the process avoided generating microplastic particles during breakdown.
Early devices also broke down
As an early demonstration, the team made a wearable plastic electrode from the living plastic. The device worked as expected and then fully degraded within two weeks.
Next, the researchers want to create a way to activate the spores in water, where much plastic pollution eventually accumulates. Although the work centered on one polymer, the same general strategy could potentially be adapted for other plastics, including materials often used in single-use products.
Reference: “Degradable Living Plastics Programmed by Engineered Microbial Consortia” by Chenwang Tang, Jing Sun, Qing Wang, Runtao Zhu, Lin Wang, Guangfa Xiang, Jiaxin Tang, Jie Li, Hang Zhao, Shuhui Li, Junsong Sun, Zhiyuan Liu, Jin Geng, Dianpeng Qi and Zhuojun Dai, 9 April 2026, ACS Applied Polymer Materials.
DOI: 10.1021/acsapm.5c04611
Funding from the National Key Research and Development Program of China, the Shenzhen Medical Research Fund, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Guangdong Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholars, and the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program.
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