Today’s Pick: The next generation of Canadian innovators
Canadian student solves the plastic bag problem
America’s innovation pipeline may be in trouble, but if the results of the Canada-Wide Science Fair are any indication, Canada is nurturing a fresh crop of great inventors.
Daniel Burd, a student at Waterloo Collegiate Institute, took Best in Fair (and over $50,000 in prizes) for his project Plastic Not Fantastic.
Burd used a mixture of yeast, tap water and landfill soil to isolate two microbes capable of degrading polyethylene plastic. He then experimented with using the bacteria to speed the degradation process - and succeeded in achieving 43 per cent degradation in just 6 weeks. (On their own, plastic bags can take 1,000 years to decompose.)
Burd estimates that the plastic could totally decompose in 3 months. His process, which produces just water and minute amounts of carbon dioxide as byproducts, is also easily scalable for industrial use.
So much for that intractable problem. Next on Burd’s agenda: finishing high school.
Read more:
- The Record: WCI student isolates microbe that lunches on plastic bags
- Wired Science: Teen Decomposes Plastic Bag in Three Months
Kathryn is the Market Research Information Specialist Intern at MaRS. She is a graduate of the Masters of Information Studies program at the University of Toronto.