“”Management of end-of-life plastic products – a path of innovative development aimed at their controlled biodegradation through a biotechnological approach”.”.
Saturday 30 September 2017 at 10 am
Polo Tecnologico of Capannori – Nuova Street in Segromigno in Monte
“The use of plastic products has been characterized in recent decades by an exponential growth. Although this has produced a substantial change in the lifestyle of individuals worldwide, it has also produced dramatic effects of environmental impact linked to the accumulation in the various environmental compartments of plastic products end of life they recklessly abandoned. Initiatives advanced over the years, to mitigate and possibly completely avoid the negative effects of environmental impact linked to the accumulation of plastic waste, have been based on education for their reuse and recycling mechanical/ chemical and in parallel with the beginning of the 90s were launched R&D activities aimed at the production of plastic products biodegradable under controlled conditions and possibly even in conditions not directly controlled.
A recent discovery, which will be referred to in this meeting, relating to the attachment of polyethylene carrier bags by worms grown on beeswax, has opened a new scenario related to a biotechnological intervention in the management of the biodegradation of end-of-life polyethylene products with prospects of potential industrialization of the technology once it has been developed and its possible extension to Poly based plastic products(hydrocarbon) in general”.
Best regards
The Secretary of the Mayor
Federica Bertocchini will present the discovery of the caterpillar-eating plastic. The larva of a butterfly, the Gallery Mellonella can degrade polyethylene, the most widespread type of plastic and one of the most difficult to dispose of. To digest the beeswax it normally eats, the insect has in fact evolved the ability to break chemical bonds like those present in polyethylene. This is the important discovery of Federica Bertocchini molecular biologistTuscan researcher from Piombino, who works at the CNR of Santander in Spain that Saturday, September 30 from 10 am will be at the Polo Tecnologico of Capannori to illustrate his exceptional intuition that could be revolutionary for the disposal of plastic and for which the Menesini administration has already expressed great interest. The researcher will take part in the meeting promoted by the Municipality and Lmpe (Eco-friendly Polymeric Material Laboratory) entitled “Management of plastic products at the end of life, a path of innovative development aimed at their controlled biodegradation through a biotechnological approach” which will be addressed by the mayor Luca Menesini, the president of LMPE Emo Chiellini, the innovation business development of LMPE Francesco Sandias and Paolo Bombelli from the Department of biochemistry of the University of Cambridge.
The aim of the meeting is to make known this important research and start a path to involve companies in translating intuition into an effective industrial process.
See paper here
