Proof of principle Components of marine paints are likely to be a significant contributor to marine microplastic pollution. The bacterium Rhodococcus ruber eats and actually digests plastic. This has been shown in laboratory experiments by PhD student Maaike Goudriaan at Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ). However, according to the researcher, these experiments are no solution to the problem of polluted oceans but mainly a proof of principle. It could be regarded as one piece of the jigsaw in the issue of where all the plastic that disappears into the oceans stays. /en/news/bacteria-really-eat-plastic ...