Preventing Plastic Pollution with Engineering Biology (P3EB) Mission Hub

塑料是合成聚合物-通过化学键连接在一起的积木链-环境中不存在的天然聚合物，而天然聚合物在所有生命王国中都很常见。对于每一种天然聚合物，都有一台被称为酶的天然生物机器，它可以将其分解成其组成的积木(单体)。这些解构酶赋予生命循环；构建块可以重复使用，不会浪费或丢失任何东西。当塑料在上个世纪被引入时，它们被设计成耐用的，正是这种特性使它们对现代生活如此重要。然而，这种耐用性意味着它需要大量的能量来分解塑料，这是天然酶发现真正具有挑战性的事情。这意味着，塑料垃圾一旦进入环境，就会成为一种持久的污染物，危害野生动物，威胁人类健康，并成为一个迅速增长的环境问题。为了解决这个问题，我们需要技术解决方案，在塑料作为废物使用寿命结束时重新利用它们；并将其单体重新定向到更高质量的产品。工程生物学预防塑料污染(P3EB)使命中心聚集了一群杰出的研究人员和创新者，以应对塑料污染的紧迫环境挑战，并为塑料的可持续分解创造新的方法，就像天然聚合物一样。我们的团队已经建立了几个有影响力的工程生物学平台，使酶和微生物在选定的任务中表现得更好。通过将这些平台扩展到对各种塑料的解构，我们将开发环境友好的创新方法，从废物中创造高价值的产品。这些努力将支持英国企业实现碳减排目标，促进可持续清洁增长，并有助于激励塑料废物回收和循环利用，以防止污染和化石燃料的使用，大多数塑料都是从化石燃料中提取的。在P3EB任务中心，我们的重点是通过碳与氧或氮原子(C-O/N)之间的键连接在一起的塑料，类似于自然界中许多聚合物的构造方式。酶可以一步打破这些类型的键，使C-O/N塑料成为开发高效工业工艺的理想起点。在这组塑料中，我们将针对对我们的环境造成最大危害和生产最多的塑料，即聚酯、聚亚安酯、聚碳酸酯和尼龙。除了这项工作，我们还将开发可持续来源的单体，以使未来的可设计回收塑料，以支持向循环塑料经济的过渡。目前，酶法塑料回收不够可持续，P3EB使命中心的目标之一就是解决这一问题。我们将建立衡量酶性能的标准，发现分解目标塑料的新酶，并设计酶和微生物以改进解构。我们还寻求改善工业PET回收，并开发减少其能源消耗的方法。此外，我们将扩大由塑料单体制造的有价值产品的范围，并通过改造微生物来可持续地生产这些产品。最后，为了确保我们的技术得到广泛采用，我们将与公众、政策制定者和行业利益相关者接触。P3EB任务中心结合了英国领先大学和研究机构的专业知识，汇集了塑料废物研究、酶工程和可持续材料方面的各种能力。我们的记录包括对酶的发现、塑料废物的回收利用和废物政策的重大贡献。通过合作，我们的目标是实现塑料不会变成废物，甚至可以变成更有价值的材料的未来。

Plastics are synthetic polymers - chains of building blocks linked together by chemical bonds - that are not naturally found in the environment, whereas natural polymers are commonplace in all kingdoms of life. For every natural polymer, there is a natural biological machine, termed an enzyme, that can deconstruct it back into its constituent building blocks (monomers). These deconstructing enzymes give circularity to life; the building blocks can be reused with nothing going to waste or being lost. When plastics were introduced over the last century, they were designed to be durable, and it is this characteristic that makes them so essential to modern life. However, this durability means that it requires a lot of energy to deconstruct plastics, something that natural enzymes find really challenging to do. This means that plastic waste, once in the environment, becomes a persistent pollutant harming wildlife, threatening human health, and becoming a rapidly increasing environmental concern. To address this problem, we need technical solutions to repurpose plastics when they reach the end of their life as waste; and to redirect their monomers to higher quality goods.The Preventing Plastic Pollution with Engineering Biology (P3EB) Mission Hub brings together an exceptional group of researchers and innovators to tackle the urgent environmental challenge of plastic pollution and create new ways for plastics to be deconstructed sustainably, much like natural polymers. Our team has established several impactful engineering biology platforms for making enzymes and microbes perform better at chosen tasks. By expanding these platforms towards the deconstruction of a wide range of plastics, we will develop environmentally friendly, innovative methods to create high-value products from waste. These efforts will support UK businesses in meeting their carbon reduction goals, contribute to sustainable clean growth, and help incentivise plastic waste recovery and recycling to prevent pollution and the use of fossil fuels, from which most plastics are derived.In the P3EB Mission Hub, our focus is on plastics that are linked together by bonds between carbon and either oxygen or nitrogen atoms (C-O/N), similar to the way many polymers in nature are constructed. Enzymes can break these types of bonds in one step, making C-O/N plastics the ideal starting point to develop efficient industrial processes. Out of this group of plastics, we will target those that cause the most harm to our environment and are the most produced, namely PET, polyurethane, polycarbonate and nylon. Alongside this work, we will develop sustainably sourced monomers to make future recyclable-by-design plastics, in support of the transition to a circular plastics economy.Currently, enzymatic plastic recycling is not sufficiently sustainable, and one of the P3EB Mission Hub goals is to address this. We will establish standards for measuring enzyme performance, discover new enzymes that break down the target plastics, and engineer enzymes and microbes for improved deconstruction. We also seek to improve industrial PET recycling and develop ways to reduce its energy use. Additionally, we will expand the range of valuable products that can be made from plastic monomers and engineer microbes to produce them sustainably. Finally, to ensure the widespread adoption of our technologies, we will engage with the public, policymakers and industry stakeholders.The P3EB Mission Hub combines expertise from leading UK universities and research institutions, bringing together diverse capabilities in plastic waste research, enzyme engineering, and sustainable materials. Our track record includes significant contributions to enzyme discovery, plastic waste upcycling, and waste policy. By working together, we aim to achieve a future where plastic does not become waste, and can even be turned into a more valuable material.