---
title: "Scientists Create Enzyme That Devours Plastic at Incredible Speed"
description: "A new enzyme, which is really a hybrid of two others, can break down plastic waste six times faster than the next best one."
date: "2020-09-29"
modified: "2020-09-29"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/enzyme-devours-plastic-incredible-speed"
categories:
  - "Environment"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "biology"
  - "environment"
  - "enzyme"
  - "plastic"
  - "the digest"
---

# Scientists Create Enzyme That Devours Plastic at Incredible Speed

![A new enzyme, which is really a hybrid of two others, can break down plastic waste six times faster than the next best one.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/enzyme-devours-plastic-incredible-speed.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Aaron McGeehan/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Super Enzyme

As plastic waste increasingly [coats the planet](<https://futurism.com/whales-sharks-new-victims-plastic-waste-study-finds>), a growing number of scientists are exploring [new ways](<https://futurism.com/plastic-eating-caterpillars-could-help-bring-an-end-to-pollution>) to break it down to its core molecules so it's less damaging to the environment.

Now, *[CNN ](<https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/29/world/plastic-eating-super-enzyme-scli-intl-scn/index.html>)*[reports](<https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/29/world/plastic-eating-super-enzyme-scli-intl-scn/index.html>), a team of scientists led by University of Portsmouth biologist John McGeehan say they've engineered an enzyme — that means a molecule that kickstarts chemical reactions — that can [break down plastic](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/mutant-enzyme-break-down-plastic-bottles>) faster than any other. There's more work to be done, but it's an encouraging sign for efforts to curb the pileup of plastic waste.

## All Hands

The new enzyme can make its way through plastic six times faster than the previous plastic-devouring enzyme developed by members of the same team, [according to research](<https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/09/23/2006753117.short?rss=1>) published Monday in the journal *PNAS*.

"We were actually quite surprised it worked so well," McGeehan told *CNN*, though he added that the enzyme is "still way too slow" to be helpful at any meaningful scale.

## All Hands

To make the new enzyme, the team borrowed a trick from the biofuel industry, according to *CNN*: stitching two effective enzymes together to make an even more powerful one.

It turns out that mixing a new enzyme called MHETase in with the existing plastic-eating enzyme PETase speeds the process up two-fold, and connecting the two triples their speed on top of that. Combined, they could someday serve as the basis of a much more effective plastic recycling program.

"We're looking at huge energy savings," McGeehan told *CNN*."

**READ MORE:** [Scientists create 'super enzyme' that eats plastic bottles six times faster](<https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/29/world/plastic-eating-super-enzyme-scli-intl-scn/index.html>) \[*CNN*\]

**More on plastic waste:** *[A New Kind of Plastic Could Be Recycled Indefinitely](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/new-kind-plastic-recycled-indefinitely>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)