Polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) is used a lot in agriculture and nobody had been able to demonstrate that it could biodegrade
Michael Thomas Zumstein and his team of researchers from ETH Zurich University came to the conclusion that PBAT biodegrades and could be a solution to solve plastic accumulation in soil due to agricultural practices.
The agricultural sector uses a lot of plastics, the practice is called “plasticulture”. A frequent example is using plastic films (plastic mulch) to protect the soil. These films are usually not biodegradable and they become waste and litter.
It was said that PBAT could biodegrade in soil but it was never proven. Zumstein and his team have now; supposedly, proven the biodegradation of PBAT in soil.
Zumstein from ETH Zurich said
Our results unequivocally demonstrate the biodegradability of poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT), an important polyester used in agriculture, in soil. Carbon from each monomer unit of PBAT was used by soil microorganisms, including filamentous fungi, to gain energy and to form biomass. This work advances both our conceptual understanding of polymer biodegradation and the methodological capabilities to assess this process in natural and engineered environments.
In other words, soil microorganisms used carbon from the PBAT to gain energy.
I wonder which lawyer came up with that phrase?
Read the study
Biodegradation of synthetic polymers in soils: Tracking carbon into CO2 and microbial biomass
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