The plastic eaters

Every year the world produces 400 million tonnes of plastic – the same weight as all the humans on earth.

Only a small proportion of this is recycled, and this isn’t proper recycling but “downcycling” – the new plastic is of a lower quality, meaning that almost all plastic eventually goes to waste.

But now French company Carbios is using enzymes to break plastic down into its chemical building blocks – which can then be used to make high quality plastic again.

So is plastic on the brink of becoming a resource like glass or aluminium, that you can keep on moulding and recycling again and again?

Presenter: Myra Anubi
Reporter/producer: William Kremer
Series producer: Jon Bithrey
Sound mix: Gareth Jones
Editor: Penny Murphy

email: [email protected]

Image: Carbios scientist holds pieces of plastic, BBC