Tandem chemical and biological processing of plastic waste

By combining chemical deconstruction methods with microbial biodegradation, we substantially increase the rates of plastic degradation. Using our process, 99.8% of the chemically deconstructed polyethylene terephthalate was degraded over the course of 7 days. Additionally, we show that nitrogen and phosphorus added during the chemical deconstruction process can support microbial growth without addition of nutrients or specialized medium.