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00:03 This might not look like much, but it could literally change humanity's future.
00:07 Plastics have been a problem for a while, with microplastics now having been found inside the human body.
00:13 Still, our reliance on plastics continues to grow,
00:16 pointing to a huge problem and source of growing concern for human health and the health of our planet's ecosystems.
00:23 Enter this new type of plastic, one that literally eats itself once it's no longer needed.
00:28 It was created using the Bacillus subtilis bacteria, a microorganism capable of eating plastic.
00:33 Researchers engineered it to survive the high-heat plastic production process,
00:37 resulting in a product which has plastic-eating bacteria built right into it.
00:41 Once the plastic has been used and is ready to be discarded,
00:45 it only needs nutrients and moisture to activate the bacteria, which then literally consumes the plastic.
00:51 This could be the solution we've been looking for with regards to solving the plastic crisis,
00:55 especially as it's becoming increasingly clear that recycling simply isn't effective enough.
01:00 What's more, the researchers say that there's another wild side effect of adding this bacteria to plastic products.
01:05 They say the resulting plastic is actually stronger and stretches better than conventional varieties.
01:11 [Music]
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