This TED Talk features bacteria researcher Morgan Vague, recorded live at TEDx Mount Hood, 2018.

Plastics. You know about them? You may not love them, but chances are you use them every single day.

By 2050, researchers estimate that there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.

Despite our best efforts, only 9% of all plastic we use winds up being recycled.

And even worse, plastic is incredibly tough and durable,

and researchers estimate that it can take anywhere from 500 to 5,000 years to fully break down.

It leaches harmful chemical contaminants into our oceans, our soil, our food, our water, and into us. So how did we wind up with so much

plastic waste? Well, it's simple. Plastic is cheap, durable, adaptable, and it's everywhere.

But the good news is, is there's something else

that's cheap, durable, adaptable, and everywhere,

and my research shows it may even be able to help us

with our plastic pollution problem.

I'm talking about bacteria.

Bacteria are microscopic living beings, invisible to the naked eye, that live everywhere

in all sorts of diverse and extreme environments.

From the human gut, to soil, to skin, to vents in the ocean floor reaching temperatures

of 700 degrees Fahrenheit,

bacteria live everywhere in all sorts of diverse and extreme environments.

And as such, they have to get pretty creative with their food sources.

There's also a lot of them.

Researchers estimate that there are roughly 5 million trillion trillion.

That's a five with 30 zeros after it.

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