February 28, 2025
Keio University
A research group at Keio University, consisting of Kenshiro Kokubun (a fourth-year student in the Department of Biosciences and Informatics, Faculty of Science and Technology), Ying Huang (a researcher at the Keio Leading-edge Laboratory of Science and Technology (KLL)), and Professor Kenji Miyamoto of the university's Faculty of Science and Technology, has successfully isolated a microorganism that degrades polypropylene (hereinafter PP) without any additives. They further discovered that this microorganism also possesses the ability to break down other plastics with structures completely different from PP, such as polyethylene (PE), polyurethane (PU), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
This achievement marks an important step toward realizing the treatment of mixed plastic waste through microbial degradation. Moreover, it is considered a major scientific discovery for understanding how plastics released into the environment are broken down in the natural world.
These findings will be presented at the annual meeting of the Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry on March 8, 2025.
Please see below for the full press release.