Every year, humans churn out about 400 million tons of plastic, and shockingly, 80% of it ends up as trash.  But don’t worry, nature has its own cleanup crew in the form of microbes, ready to chow down on our plastic mess.

Spark you thinking!

1. Set up your science mini spark recording page: #11: Microbes Eating Trash

2. Watch this TED-Ed video. Record 5 interesting vocabulary words on your recording sheet.

3. After watching this video, answer these questions in an interview format. You are the interviewer and the interviewee is a plastic starfish.

• How are man made polymers different than those found in nature ?
• What are some common forms of plastic?
• How do you break plastic’s chemical bonds?
• What  never before identified bacteria was found in the lab from this video.
• Why type of engineers worked on the project to create super enzymes?
• What was discovered in Japan?

4. Advanced Option:Read this article and record your thoughts about this process.

5. Share your science mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.