00:00Sometimes, the solution to pollution can be found in the discovery of a plastic-eating bacteria.
00:16But what if a type of bacteria is used to make plastic so that it can be polluted?
00:23Come on, let's change the game!
00:30Almost everything in the world is made of plastic.
00:34It's true that 9.5 billion tons of plastic is produced worldwide.
00:41But the problem is that the plastic we make is petroleum-based,
00:45or the one that is formed by burning fossil fuels,
00:51so it also has an impact on climate change.
00:54What if we can make eco-friendly plastic that is not made from fossil fuels?
01:00And it's easy to biodegrade.
01:02Is that possible with the help of bacteria?
01:06Let's go!
01:09That's BHA, short for polyhydroxyalkanoates.
01:14It's a type of biodegradable plastic that is formed by the fermentation of bacteria.
01:21The best part?
01:22BHA bioplastics can decompose in just a month.
01:27Developed by the Biomaterials and Environmental Engineering Laboratory of UP Los Banos,
01:32headed by Dr. JRS Ventura.
01:35BHA plays an innate property of bacteria.
01:40It's the only type of plastic that can be degraded in any kind of environment.
01:45Its properties are almost the same as our traditional plastics.
01:49From bacteria to plastic?
01:51Sounds promising!
01:53That's why its research and development received funding from DOST since 2017.
01:59We collect from waste, from sediment samples, from bodies of water.
02:05We have more than 300 species or strains of BHA-producing bacteria.
02:09The process of obtaining and proliferating BHA-producing bacteria begins.
02:14Under the microscope, the indicator that the bacteria has BHA should be purple.
02:22We have multiplied the extracted bacteria.
02:26Now, we will put it in the fermentation media to proliferate the BHA content.
02:38After a day, it will undergo extraction and purification.
02:43And the BHA will be used as raw material in various bioplastic products.
02:50From plastic bags to containers.
02:56Now, DOST gave us the opportunity to continue to scale it up.
03:01Dear friends, even if we don't change our needs for plastic,
03:05there are many ways to make it sustainable.
03:09For GMA Integrated News, I'm Martin Avier, changing the game!
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