DANIEL'S SCIENCE FAIR PROJECT

Plastic bags may take 1,000 years to biodegrade. Daniel Burd, however, found a way to do it in just three months. A 16-yr-old high school student from Waterloo, Ontario, Burd made his discovery trying to biodegrade chicken feathers for a science fair project. He had isolated two microorganisms who could biodegrade plastic, in the right conditions. This process could be easily industrialized, mostly because it requires almost no input of energy. Burd's project, "Plastic Not Fantastic," received first prize at the science fair with a $20,000 scholarship, and he looks forward to seeing what his experiment will lead to. Perhaps a Solution to the Continent of Plastic?


Of course, even if microorganisms can biodegrade plastic faster, they do not address the pollution created in the manufacture, transport, and disposal of plastic bags. Reusable bags are still the way to go! But thank you, Daniel, for providing hope that the plastic bag mess that already exists can be addressed.