25.74 million tons of PET were produced globally in 2022
growing at CAGR of 4.1 percent during the forecast period of 2023 to 2030
Around 4.1 million tons of PET were produced in India in 2022
Growing at a CAGR of 6.49 percent during the forecast period of 2023-2029
#2 The asia-pacific region accounted for 42.27% of global PET consumption, with India being the second largest producer
PET in India is used to produce packaging, especially PET Bottles
9.46 million tons of waste plastic is annually generated in India, where single use plastic usually utilized for packaging accounts for 43% of the total waste generation.
India recycles 60% of it’s generated plastic out of which : 70% is recycled at registered facilities, 20% is recycled by Unorganized Sector, 10% of the plastic is recycled at home.
There are issues when it comes to recycling. The recycled polymer (rPET) is not of the same quality than virgin polymer, and has lesser market value and higher risk of leaching food contact chemicals (microplastics, BPA)
It is also noted that more than 40% of the plastic generated is not recycled properly, contributing to landfills and microplastic contamination both in land and in water
Microplastics persist in the environment and can enter the human system via biomagnification, causing problems in the digestive, respiratory, endocrine, reproductive, and immune systems.
The need of the hour is to find a way to safely degrade PET into its constituent monomers to recycle it safely
"Hence We present to you PETrify"
A dual enzyme system for the efficient degradation of PET plastics using a FAST-PETase-Mutant MHETase combination.
Fast PETase, a modified version of the PETase from ideonella sakaiensis, degrades PET to MHET and BHET, which are further degraded to terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol by modified MHETase, also from ideonella sakaiensis.
