INL scientists help harness bacteria power to brew eco-friendly plastic from waste

Three samples of premium wood-plastic composite lumber sit in a stack on a shelf in David Thompson’s office at Idaho National Laboratory. The dense, fine-grained boards are uniformly colored in shades that range from light to dark brown. All three boards match each other in strength and durability. But one of the boards has two special ingredients: plastic made by bacteria, and the same harmless bacteria that made the plastic — by eating wastewater. Read more….