Oregon student breeds plastic-eating bacteria

PORTLAND, Ore. (KGW) – We all know plastic waste is a huge problem all around the world.

Now researchers at Reed College have found a natural way to get rid of it, using bacteria that actually eats the plastic.

Biology major Morgan Vague made the discovery while working on her thesis this past school year.

Vague knew there was naturally occurring bacteria in the ocean that could break down crude oil. So she wondered if some of that bacteria could do the same to plastic.

Her hunch was right.

Vague was able to isolate and breed several strains of bacteria, that if given no other food source, turned to plastic for their meals.

“That’s going to be your water bottle… pretty much…any kind of packaging you see in the bakery department, that clear rigid water bottle-type plastic,” Vague says.