The problem solver

From the May 27th Waterloo Record:

"Getting ordinary plastic bags to rot away like banana peels would be an environmental dream come true.

Now a Waterloo teenager has found a way to make plastic bags degrade faster – in three months, he figures. His idea is to collect and concentrate the microorganisms that eat plastic, and then set them loose on discarded plastic.

Daniel Burd's project won the top prize at the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Ottawa. "Almost every week I have to do chores and when I open the closet door, I have this avalanche of plastic bags falling on top of me," he said. "One day, I got tired of it and I wanted to know what other people are doing with these plastic bags."

Burd knew plastic does eventually degrade, and figured microorganisms must be behind it. His goal was to isolate the microorganisms that can break down plastic -- not an easy task because they don't exist in high numbers in nature."

How did he do it? Read on.

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