A species of bacteria that eats the type of plastic found in most disposable water bottles found by Japanese scientists. This microbes is very promising for combating the urgent matter when 50 million tons of plastic are destroying our oceans and environment. The plastic found in water bottles is known as polyethylene terephalate, or PET. It is also found in polyester clothing, frozen-dinner trays and blister packaging. To find the plastic-eating bacterium described in the study, the Japanese research team from Kyoto Institute of Technology and Keio University collected 250 PET-contaminated samples including sediment, soil and waste-water from a plastic bottle recycling site.Next they screened the microbes living on the samples to see whether any of them were eating the PET and using it to grow. They originally found a consortium of bugs that appeared to break down a PET film, but they eventually discovered that just one of bacteria species was responsible for the PET degradation. Additional studies are being conducted and hopefully in a several years this break through will revolutionize the recycling plastic all over the world.