Ocean plastic pollution could be source of new antibiotics, study suggests

Scientists say they could isolate five antibiotic-producing bacteria from ocean plastic

Plastic pollution in the ocean could be a source of novel antibiotics in the future, according to a study that may lead to new ways of tackling drug-resistant superbug infections.

Previous studies estimate that between five million and 13 million tons of plastic pollution could be entering the ocean every year, with about 12 trillion to 125 trillion microplastics floating in the seas.

Scientists have shown that plastic pollution is accumulating in pockets across the Earth’s oceans such as in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Even the frigid polar regions of the Arctic Ocean and the Antarctic can’t escape the global threat of plastic pollution.