Conceptual illustration depicting plastic-eating bacteria consuming plastic bottle tops. Plastic pollution is a large and complex issue, with over 91 percent of the worlds plastics not being recycled and ending up in landfills or oceans. In March 2016, scientists in Japan discovered that a certain bacteria, called Ideonella sakaiensis, were breaking down plastic bottles at a recycling plant. Ideonella sakaiensis is a rod-shaped, gram-negative bacteria that has naturally evolved to consume a specific type of plastic, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), commonly used to make water bottles and food packages. The bacteria produces an enzyme called PETase, which breaks down the plastic into monomers that it can then use for energy, similar to how humans break down food.