High school student scientist’s work focuses on plastic
A San Jose high school student who is trying to solve the Earth’s plastic pollution problem says a common fungus may hold the key to breaking down plastic in landfills.
Presentation High School junior Shloka Janapaty has been conducting independent research projects since middle school and was one of 15 finalists invited to the International BioGENEius Challenge held earlier this month in Boston. Although she didn’t win the $7,500 grand prize, she was one of three students who received high honors and $1,000 in prizes.
The Challenge was sponsored by the Washington, D.C.-based Biotechnology Institute to encourage student scientists to pursue solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems.
Plastic pollution in landfills is a problem, with scientists estimating it can take 500 years or longer for plastic to break down.
A report by Columbia
University’s Earth Institute says Americans discarded 33.6 million tons of plastic in 2014, yet only 9.5 percent was recycled. Fifteen percent was burned for electricity or heat and most of the rest ended up in landfills, the report concluded.
Shloka’s initial research shows that everyday plastic bags, such as bread bags and packaging material, can be quickly and cheaply degraded.
“A liquid waste product called leachate forms when waste breaks down in a landfill,” Shloka explained. “I pre-treated the plastic by submerging it in acid and then I put it in a culture that was infused with synthetic leachate. That made it more susceptible to white rot fungus, which grows naturally in the wild and can break down wood and plastic.”
Shloka started with pieces of plastic the size of a quarter. Six days later, they had grown, she said.
That promising experiment used 35 plastic samples.
“I see this being used in landfills. Right now I’m doing follow-up experiments that simulate a landfill environment to determine if this is feasible,” Shloka said.
Scientists from the Biotechnology Institute, including its president Larry Mahan, are helping her design feasibility tests.
“While in an early proof-of-concept stage, if successfully scalable, Shloka’s novel research approach could change critical aspects of the waste management industry and the environmental remediation cycle,” Mahan said.