Scientists create living plastics that decompose in 6 days without forming microplastics and pave the way for programmed materials against single-use waste

Written by Fabio Lucas Carvalho

Published on 31/05/2026 at 12:50

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Study published in 2026 in ACS Applied Polymer Materials describes living plastics produced with bacterial spores and two cooperative enzymes, capable of completely degrading polycaprolactone in six days, without microplastic formation, in an approach aimed at short-lived materials

Living plastics programmed by engineered microbes have opened a new front against single-use waste by showing complete degradation in six days, without microplastic formation, in a study published in 2026 in ACS Applied Polymer Materials.

Living plastics created by scientists can be triggered to decompose under specific conditions, using two cooperating bacterial strains and enzymes that break down the polymer in stages, an experimental strategy targeting packaging, simple devices, and other short-lived materials.

Living plastics programmed by microbes managed to completely degrade in six days, without forming microplastics, in a study published on April 9, 2026, in ACS Applied Polymer Materials, paving the way for short-lived materials with planned decomposition.

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Living plastics change the disposal cycle

The research starts from a known problem: many plastic items are used for a short time but remain in the environment for years. The team sought to embed degradation into the material’s own life cycle.

Zhuojun Dai, corresponding author of the paper, stated that the persistence of traditional plastics for centuries motivated the central question of the study: would it be possible to program the material to decompose when needed?

Two enzymes accelerate decomposition

To test the idea, Dai, Jin Geng, Dianpeng Qi, and colleagues engineered Bacillus subtilis to produce two polymer-degrading enzymes. They act in sequence, splitting long chains and then breaking smaller fragments into monomers.

The researchers combined dormant B. subtilis spores with polycaprolactone, a polymer used in 3D printing and some surgical sutures. The living plastic maintained mechanical properties close to those of common films of this material.

When it received nutrient broth heated to 50 degrees Celsius, the system was activated. The spores awakened and completely degraded the plastic into its basic blocks in six days, without generating microplastic particles.

Wearable device also disintegrated

The team also produced a wearable electrode made with the living plastic. The device functioned as expected and then completely degraded in two weeks, in an initial demonstration of practical application.

The next step is to develop a way to activate the spores in water, an environment where much of the plastic pollution accumulates. Although the study used a specific polymer, the strategy can be adapted to other plastics.

The work received funding from programs and foundations in China, including the National Key Research and Development Program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and initiatives from Shenzhen and Guangdong.

Study available at pubs.acs.org.

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Scientists create living plastics that decompose in 6 days without forming microplastics and pave the way for programmed materials against single-use waste

Study published in 2026 in ACS Applied Polymer Materials describes living plastics produced with bacterial spores and two cooperative enzymes, capable of completely degrading polycaprolactone in six days, without microplastic formation, in an approach aimed at short-lived materials

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Scientists create living plastics that decompose in 6 days without forming microplastics and pave the way for programmed materials against single-use waste

Study published in 2026 in ACS Applied Polymer Materials describes living plastics produced with bacterial spores and two cooperative enzymes, capable of completely degrading polycaprolactone in six days, without microplastic formation, in an approach aimed at short-lived materials

The man who saw his fortune increase by $35.8 billion in a single day surpassed Mark Zuckerberg and took the sixth position among the richest in the world.

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In the cold desert of Ladakh, where it hardly rains, engineer Sonam Wangchuk created the ice stupa, a tower that freezes winter water and stores it for irrigating crops in the spring, a simple engineering feat that mimics nature.

Libya built over 4,000 kilometers of underground pipelines to bring water from the Sahara to coastal cities in a project that the government itself called the Eighth Wonder of the World.

Almost 6,000 residents live concentrated along a single street nearly 9 km long in the interior of Poland. Houses form a continuous row, and behind them, narrow agricultural strips emerge, creating one of the most unusual rural patterns in Europe.

Chinese woman planted trees for decades while sand buried part of her house, received $5,000 from an American in 1999, and helped transform the desert into a forest of 8 million trees in China.

Desert sand, previously discarded for being too smooth for concrete, becomes an ecological brick in the United Arab Emirates, dispensing with Portland cement, curing at room temperature, and attempting to transform dunes useless for construction into raw material for a new arid engineering.

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