Bacteria That Eat Plastic to Make Plastic Goes Commercial
Michael Kanellos: April 7, 2009, 2:58 PM
Thanks to Todd Kimmel of Mayfield Fund and overall green chemistry fan for updating us on this one.
Last year, we wrote about how Kevin O'Connor at University of College Dublin had come up with a way to recycle old plastic bottles and containers with microorganisms. The bugs eat a cooked down version of a plastic bottle and metabolize it into new, saleable molecules. If I could do that, I'd never leave home.
The plastic that comes out of the digestive process is also biodegradable. It can go safely into a landfill and will disappear over time.
O'Connor has since formed a company, called Bioplastech, to commercialize it. CrapPlastic is funner, but might spook investors.
If...
Midday events at Stanford University attract a crowd of students, professors, George Schultz in a red jacket and a bunch of retirees. I mean, who else can attend a speech by the CEO of ExxonMobil in the middle of the day?
Rex Tillerson, chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil recited a speech on Tuesday afternoon in an event sponsored by the