'Greener alternative to plastic': Scientists create biodegradable PDCA

Technology Sep 18, 2025

Scientists at Kobe University have come up with a new, greener ingredient for plastics called PDCA.
Instead of using the usual polluting chemicals in PET bottles, they engineered E. coli bacteria to make this nitrogen-based, biodegradable alternative—eliminating previous toxic byproducts, though a new byproduct required further intervention, and production is now seven times more efficient.

Research published in journal Metabolic Engineering

The team, led by bioengineer Tanaka Tsutomu, figured out how to fix a pesky byproduct issue with a simple tweak: adding pyruvate.
While scaling up for big factories is still a challenge, this breakthrough could help make truly biodegradable plastics possible in the future.
The research was published in the journal Metabolic Engineering.