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Plastics are usually long chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms. The enzymes found in living things can perform many chemical reactions, but they generally exploit some sort of imbalance of electric charge within a molecule to do their job. A long chain of carbons and hydrogens contains very balanced charges along its length, making the molecule stable and difficult to change with enzymes. Most biodegradable substances contain some mixture of carbon and atoms like oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus, which create charge imbalances that enzymes can exploit. There are some bacteria that can break down plastics. These bacteria usually contain enzymes called oxygenases, which can add oxygen to a long carbon chain. This destabilizes the local electric charge, and the plastic can then be broken down. You don't find oxygenase enzymes too often, however, because they can easily destroy the molecules in the bacteria that carries it.

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14y ago

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