Cellulose plastic breaks down in seafloor sediment, others don't
Kefela T, Li D, Van De Werfhorst LC, Reynolds RM, Behrens R
Soil Health
The cellulose acetate that did degrade in this study comes from the same plant fiber used in compostable packaging and some plant-based fabrics, so gardeners choosing biodegradable mulch films or plant pots have real evidence that cellulose-based materials behave differently underground than standard plastics.
Researchers buried strips of four different plastics, plus a cellulose-based material made from plant fibers, in seafloor mud near an underwater methane vent and checked back over six months. Bacteria quickly moved in and coated every material, but only the plant-fiber plastic showed real signs of being eaten and broken down by microbes. The other plastics, including a common bottle plastic, showed almost no breakdown, meaning they likely stick around in ocean sediment for a very long time.
Key Findings
All five substrate types (three EVOH films, PET, and cellulose acetate) were colonized by bacteria within the first sampling point, detectable via extractable DNA.
Only cellulose acetate showed chemical evidence of biodegradation, based on changes in its cellulose backbone spectral signatures over the 6-month study.
PET showed almost no biodegradation (only one bacterial genus, Clostridium, was enriched on it), and EVOH showed scant biodegradation evidence beyond abiotic hydrolysis.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists sank different plastic films and a paper-like cellulose material to a methane seep on the seafloor and found bacteria colonized all of them within months, but only the cellulose-based plastic actually broke down chemically over six months.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Bacterial community colonization with minimal alteration of plastics in suboxic sediments from a marine methane seep.
Although marine plastics fragment and sink into suboxic seafloor sediments, little is known regarding microbiological and material outcomes. Here, open glass microcosms containing hydrocarbon-venti...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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