Plastic pollution, especially in the ocean, has always been a very concerning environmental issue, both globally and regionally. PET (polyethylene glycol)-based plastics polluting our ocean are very difficult to degrade (takes 450-1000 for a single plastic bottle to be naturally degraded). Moreover, harsh ocean environment (waves and sunlight) cuts these plastics into very small fragments called microplastics, which size is only several milimeters in diameter. These microplastics make plastic pollution even more hazardous and harder to deal with. Microplastics are commonly unintentionally consumed by marine organisms causing poisoning which leads to deaths. And while normal sized plastics are easy for humans to collect and recycle, in microplastic form, these plastics are impossible to collect, making them an untreatable pollution. This is a very dire issue, especially in our nation, Indonesia, where our government has made plastic pollution issues one of its main focuses. ITB Indonesia 2017 team will create a sythetic bacteria which have the abilty to degrade plastic pollution in the ocean efficiently.

This bacterial machine will do its action in 4 main steps:

• detect the presence of plastic

• attach and colonize around the microplastic

• eliminate the microplastics

• convert it to a nutrition source

This bacteria is also specialized to survive marine conditions and is equipped with a module which ensures safety. Through this breakthrough, microplastic pollution will be reduced, lives of marine organisms will be saved, and biodiversity will be protected. aaa