Harvesting fresh rumen liquid from a slaughterhouse Australian researchers incubated it with samples of three types of plastic in powder and film form:
- polyethylene terephthalate which is the type of plastic that’s used in soda bottles, food packaging, and synthetic fabrics
- polyethylene furanoate, a biodegradable plastic that’s common in compostable plastic bags; and
- polybutylene adipate terephthalate, another variety of biodegradable plastic.
Within 72 hours, the rumen microbes had begun to break down all three types of plastic in both their powder and film forms.”
Source: Treehugger, July 14, 2021. Link. Enzymes also could be harvested directly from rumen liquid. “Due to the large amount of rumen that accumulates every day in slaughterhouses, upscaling would be easy to imagine,” Dr Ribitsch explained.