University of Waterloo: Microbial innovation and engineering design offer fresh solutions for plastic waste
- Global Research Partnerships
- Nov 24
- 1 min read
Chemical engineering researchers at the University of Waterloo have joined forces to take on a pressing environmental problem by using synthetic biology to turn plastic waste into valuable resources. The multidisciplinary group is working together to review and identify strategies that leverage synthetic biology, microbial engineering and engineering design to degrade and upcycle plastic waste.
"We're stepping out of our silos to advance sustainability," says Dr. Marc Aucoin, a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering. "If we work together, we have a broader base to attack this issue." Their recent review of the problem is published in the Canadian Journal of Microbiology.
The plastic waste crisis is one of the great challenges facing humanity. According to the United Nations Environment Program, 19 to 23 million tons of plastic waste leak into ecosystems annually. These plastics take hundreds of years to break down and are now degrading into nano and micro plastics.
A promising solution lies in creating a circular economy in which plastics at the end of their lives are consistently used to generate new, valuable products, rather than ending up as harmful waste in oceans and landfills. That's where members of the Waterloo research group, which includes Aucoin and colleagues Drs. Christian Euler, Brian Ingalls, Yilan Liu and Elisabeth Prince, come in.
