Scientists have shown the way to reduce pollution by making vanilla from plastic

 

Maybe the day is not far away when fragrant vanilla will be made from discarded plastic bottles! Ice cream can also be made.

A recent discovery has raised hopes of getting rid of plastic pollution that is poisoning the environment day by day as it is virtually impossible to destroy or replace. Which will replace waste plastic at a much lower cost than vanilla, a much-needed human product. One of the ingredients for making food, cosmetics, medicines, house and furniture cleaning utensils and various herbicides. Waste plastic can also be removed from the environment in this way at a much lower cost. As a result, the growing concern about the increasing amount of waste plastics in ponds, rivers, seas and oceans is now a global concern, with some experts saying the discovery could shed light on the issue in the days to come.

The paper, published by scientists at the University of Edinburgh, is published in the international scientific journal Green Chemistry. Researchers have used a special type of bacteria to lighten environmental toxins by turning waste plastics into highly useful substances for humans. Whose name is 'E. coli'.

They were the first to show that E. coli could easily pull waste plastic toxins out of the air if it could be made stronger by making some changes to the bacterial gene.

Earlier, other studies had shown that plastics decay and are converted to terephthalic acid long after. This acid is toxic. As a result, it becomes more dangerous to water and the environment.

Plastic pollution has become a major concern as it has not been possible to convert this terephthalic acid into any human-used substance for so long. At the moment, 1 million plastic bottles are sold every minute in the world, according to researchers. Only 14 percent of it can be recycled with modern technology. The rest pollutes the water and the environment in various ways. That recyclable plastic is used in the textile and carpet manufacturing industry. Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar recently announced a program called 'India Plastic Challenge: Hackathon 2021' to save India from this pollution. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said his government's goal is to free India from single-use plastics by 2022. The company, which manufactures plastic bags with a density of less than 40 microns, has also been directed to take disciplinary action against them. According to the Central Pollution Control Board, the country produces an average of about 26,000 tons of plastic per day. About 10,000 tons of it is not collected.

This study has received different dimensions in this worrying situation. Researchers have found that E. coli bacteria can convert toxic terephthalic acid into aromatic vanillin at a temperature of 36 degrees Celsius in one day. Which is the main ingredient in vanilla. In the world, vanilla is now made primarily from chemicals found in fossil fuels, such as coal or mineral oil. Which is very inadequate compared to the need. But fossil fuels are now the cause of deep concern for civilization. Its use is also being considered.