Goal

The goal of our project was to transfer the PETase gene from the bacteria Ideonella sakaiensis into Nicotiana benthamiana as a proof of concept for a plant capable of internally decomposing microplastics.

Focused SDGs: SDG 3 SDG 6 SDG 9 SDG 13 SDG 14 SDG 15

Action

Through synthetic biology, the Thailand-RIS team was able to create a proof of concept that demonstrated the first step towards engineering a plant capable of internally decomposing microplastics via the enzyme PETase.

Benefits

This is a significant initiative towards one, addressing the SDG number 3, Good Health and Well-being, and specifically, its sub-target 3.9. As illustrated by our secondary research, increasingly many studies are pointing out the toxicity of plastic and microplastic pollution not only on the environment, but on human health. A reading session of a BBC article called “How Do the Microplastics in Our Bodies Affect Our Health?” during one of our team meetings revealed the presence of microplastics in vital organs and even the bones of the human body (Cox, 2025). The exposure to and ingestion of microplastic particles from the air, food, and water sources have been correlated with various illnesses, which therefore place plastics under the category of “hazardous chemicals.” In order to mitigate deaths and illnesses caused by plastics in the long term, we need a way to effectively remove microplastics from water sources. Our engineered plant serves as a way to not only filter out microplastics but also to continually and automatically break them down into their non-toxic counterparts.

Our project is also a step towards SDG number 9, Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure. While our proof of concept is small-scale, it provides a base from which larger, plant-based water filtration facilities can be established. Prior to that leap, an engineered plant, especially a water hyacinth plant, equipped with PETase can be integrated into existing water treatment and filtration plants. This serves as the seedling of an infrastructure that is “sustainable, resilient” and self-sufficient, that can, towards sub-target 9.1, first and foremost support human well-being. With further development of the engineering of this plant, it can be the innovation needed to provide an alternate approach to solving the problem of microplastic pollution. This has been further explored in our Entrepreneurship page and Vision and Outlook page.

In this way, the burden placed on recycling facilities and filtration systems may be somewhat lessened, reducing overall energy consumption and therefore greenhouse gas production. By harnessing the natural sustainability of a plant, rather than industrial machines, action can be taken towards SDG 13, Climate Action, and may subsequently be implemented into national strategies in the far future.

In addition to impacts on human health, plastic and microplastic pollution are also detrimental to the environment and the organisms in it, including marine organisms or “Life Below Water.” Through the implementation of our engineered plant into water treatment facilities, we can contribute to “preventing and significantly reduc[ing] marine pollution,” as stated by sub-target 14.1, in the form of PET plastics. By degrading the harmful microplastics in water affected by human activities before it enters the ocean, we can “manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems” (sub-target 14.2) while also “[enhancing] the conservation of” the oceans (sub-target 14.c) as well as fresh water systems including rivers, klongs, and lakes.

In a similar way, our project works to protect and restore terrestrial ecosystems via the bioremediation of plastic pollution. Specifically, by working towards a mechanism that can degrade microplastics, forests, agricultural land and other areas can be restored and protected from soil degradation, following sub-target 15.2.

Learnings

As much as our project can be a step in the right direction towards the SDGs above, there are limitations that can be considered. One, our plant chassis is currently N. benthamiana, which is not suitable for growth in Thailand’s climate. As such, a crucial future step would be the substitution of our chassis with the water hyacinth. However, this is also in itself a limitation–while this plant species is resilient and grows well in tropical conditions, it is considered an invasive species and therefore proper management guidelines are needed to prevent the GMO from being released. Aside from the science aspect, the legal prohibition of cultivating genetically modified organisms–for purposes other than research–is a major obstacle towards implementing this solution in Thailand. The Thailand-RIS team remains hopeful that this policy will shift as awareness around the potential of synbio increases in the region to allow certain GMOs to be used as solutions for major problems, under careful control.

Goal

Our goal was to reduce our plastic usage as a team, during our meetings as well as in terms of our apparel.

On our Members page, you can learn how many of us work to reduce or eliminate plastic in our daily lives.

Focused SDGs: SDG 3 SDG 6 SDG 12 SDG 13 SDG 14 SDG 15

Action

One thing our team was able to identify from our conversations with various stakeholders was the sheer difficulty of implementing proper waste management practices, which starts from the production of plastic products. While we cannot control the production of plastic in our country, we have done our best as a team to reduce and minimize our collective plastic usage and consumption.

One of the ways we did this was by creating a set of rules to avoid plastic packaging for the food and drinks we bring to our meetings.

Our Meeting Rules:

• Reusable water bottles only (no single use plastic water bottles)
• Avoid usage of plastic straws
• Avoid snacks with plastic packaging

At first, it was a learning curve to figure out how to bring our food and drinks without relying on plastics as “hungry teenagers at 3pm.” When we were actively trying to avoid plastic packaging, we found that our options at school were very limited. However, as we progressed through our meetings, we found solutions and alternatives such as bringing food and snacks from home in reusable containers or ordering from places that used sustainable packaging. Eventually, these small actions became a habit that made us reconsider our plastic usage in our daily lives.

Another way we minimized our plastic consumption was through our choice of material for our team shirt. This year, we considered multiple options for the shirt–especially between 100% cotton shirts or shirts made from recycled plastic. We settled for the latter, as it would allow us to reutilize plastics that may otherwise end up in the landfill, following what Dr. Wijarn Simachaya mentioned in an interview about prolonging the circulation of plastics as long as possible.

Benefits

On a more personal level, this project was an opportunity for our team members to reflect on our own plastic usage and truly put the plastic pollution issue into perspective in our daily lives. From just the simplicity of reducing plastic usage during our iGEM meetings, we were able to create an environmentally conscious team setting. For many of us, this was the call to action to change some of our plastic habits and reduce our use as much as possible. Here is what some of our members had to say:

“Learning deeply about how plastic affects our bodies and environment made me really reflect on my everyday plastic usage. I plan to continue using and following these rules that we created in iGEM throughout my life. As well as look and push for more sustainable ways to help out the RIS community!”

“Our plastic commitments made me more mindful of my personal plastic usage outside of our iGEM meetings. It made me question whether I really needed that straw or plastic utensil, and our research really put into perspective how serious the issue of microplastics was to our health. I’ll avoid using plastic containers for my food and drinks as much as possible from now on!”

With our meetings being a safe space for trial and error in finding innovative alternatives to plastic packaging, we were able to establish sustainable practices that can then be shared with and applied to other clubs in our community, so as to create a wave of change in our school and individual lives.

These were steps taken towards SDG 12, Responsible Consumption and Production, especially in regards to the consumption aspect, following sub-targets 12.2, 12.7, and 12.8.

Similarly, our team shirt is an embodiment of our team’s commitment to reducing plastic usage and, by extension, the release of microplastics. By reutilizing recycled plastic materials, we hope to at least set an example for the small steps that can be taken to prevent more plastic from ending up in the environment. The cardboard packaging of the shirt itself advertises its recyclability but ironically enough, the shirt also comes in a plastic bag, which highlights the difficulty of truly avoiding plastic.

The shirts we have used have reduced the usage of water by 38.02 liters, helping conserve fresh water resources that are often overused in common textile production. It directly supports the goal of ensuring sustainable management of water, which is essential for life.

Use of innovative fabric technologies, which is a 2-layer design with recycled PET (polyester) and recycled cotton, represents a sustainable industrial standard that showcases innovation in textile manufacturing and reduces waste and energy.

Made from 25% recycled cotton, 25% organic cotton, and 50% rPET, the shirt has responsible material choices that minimize environmental impact. This promotes economic principles by reusing plastic and material waste and reducing the reliance on virgin resources.

It lowers CO2 emission by 3.43 kilograms per shirt and saves 462.07 hours of electricity, it helps mitigate climate change impacts due to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This shirt supports global efforts to combat climate change through use of sustainable textile manufacturing.

Furthermore, as demonstrated by our secondary research, many plastic products have a significantly shorter service life in comparison to their actual life span. Ultimately, these plastics end up in landfills, or, as a result of waste mismanagement, leak into the environment. Around 82 million tonnes or a quarter of the world’s plastic waste is categorized as “mismanaged,” meaning it is not stored in secure landfills, recycled, or destroyed via incineration or other methods (Ritchie, 2023). Anthropogenic activities such as agriculture also introduces significant amounts of plastics and microplastics into the soil, water, and air (Lwanga et al., 2023; Sajad et al., 2022). Considering the fundamental role of soil and water environments in animal and plant lives, as well as those of other organisms, the prevalence and toxicity of microplastics is a major concern. The consumption of animal and plant products in food leads to the indirect ingestion of more microplastics in humans, on top of the microplastics we are already exposed to from the environment.

Learnings

Changing our habits was not easy. One of our challenges was that we realized that the majority of our school snacks, drinks, and food containers were covered and made of plastic. This made it hard to find food items to enjoy during our meetings and outside in everyday school routine. Another challenge is we see plastic and use it so often out of habit that it’s hard to switch to non plastic usage. Considering the fact that the majority of our school community is aware of the plastic pollution problem, the continued usage and presence of plastic on our campus demonstrates the even harsher reality of plastic consumption in Thailand. This led us to create the presentation to share our concerns and create awareness of this issue with our Administrators.

Moreover, we found that these eco-friendly shirts came with a higher cost compared to ordering regular t-shirts. The price barrier, as our stakeholders mentioned in our Human Practices work, is another obstacle more broadly faced in Thailand. This is also reflected in the fact that when we tried to find similar sustainable options with our hoodies, we discovered instead that the sustainable options at certain manufacturers either didn't exist or were not available in Thailand. The double standard among certain businesses in different countries based on the laws shows how prices and profit are prioritized over sustainable practices.

Goal

Our goal was to discuss with our school administrative council about the dangers of microplastic consumption on our health and to persuade changes to the plastic usage at our school, including storage and heating of food in plastic containers.

Proposals

• Proposal 1: No heating up food in plastic containers in the cafe; this can be done by replacing them with paper containers.
• Proposal 2: Replace plastic straws to locally produced biodegradable sugar cane straws in the school canteen and cafe.
• Proposal 3: Replace plastic cups and lids to paper versions in our school cafe.

Focused SDGs: SDG 3 SDG 12 SDG 13 SDG 14 SDG 15

Action

RIS Sustainability - Presentation to AdCo.pdf

Following SDG 3, Good Health and Well-being, we presented our ideas to the Administrative Council (AdCo). Our proposals were put into different tiers of “most important/doable” to “it can wait/takes more time and money”. These proposals suggested limited microwave usage with plastic containers and the solution of possibly replacing plastic containers with paper containers, in our school cafe that is externally managed. In addition, we also requested for the substitution of plastic straws with sugar cane straws in our cafeteria. Our team researched alternatives and their realistic cost that could be sourced from local companies. Our initiative will restrain microplastics leaching into our food/drinks, thereby reducing overall microplastic consumption. This directly supports the SDG 3 because microplastics impose negative effects on our bodies according to the BBC article “How Do the Microplastics in Our Bodies Affect Our Health?”; they cause reproductive toxicity and produce immune and stress responses. Therefore, introducing our proposals to our school improves the overall health and well-being of our students.

Our proposals align with SDG 12, Responsible Consumption of Production, and in particular, sub-target 12.6 which encourages the adoption of sustainable practices by companies, or in our case, our school institution. With our efforts, we aim to take one step closer to reducing overall plastic consumption, starting with our own school. This will reduce the environmental impact and ecological footprint of our school, ensuring the responsible consumption of containers and straws by our community. The vision and mission of our school, Ruamrudee International School, is to nurture students who embrace the values of “a Curious Scholar,” who “thinks critically, explores creatively, and applies knowledge for meaningful impact”; “a Globally-minded Leader,” who “takes responsible action”; and “an Innovative Thinker” and “principles learner” who “designs bold, ethical solutions grounded in values and insight…even when it’s hard.” Following these principles, our team worked to thoroughly research solutions that could create a meaningful, lasting impact on our school community.

SDG 13, or Climate Action, is about the immediate action that needs to be taken to decelerate the everlasting impacts of climate change on the environment around us. Our action supports this goal because our proposals aim to reduce the overall consumption of plastic by our students and staff here at school. This in turn will reduce the effects of climate change, as fossil fuels are used to produce plastics in the first place, in addition to that fact that plastics are often incinerated by companies as a waste removal method or for fuel and energy, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This can lead to the augmentation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, accelerating global warming.

Our proposals are also a positive step towards SDG 14 and 15, Life Below Water and Life on Land. The initiation and implementation of our proposals for the replacement of plastic straws and containers will directly lead to the reduction of plastic usage at our school, which then also reduces the amount of microplastics spread into aquatic and land environments.

Benefits

The main benefit we found was the implementation of at least 1 of our 3 proposals–the school cafe had changed the previously plastic bowls to paper containers and stopped heating up the food with the plastic lids on. While the School Manager informed us that the cafe needed to first use their current inventory, we were assured that they planned to change their plastic containers to paper alternatives, which are safer for our health and more biodegradable. We are currently working with the School Manager and the owners of the cafe to create a timeline for when these biodegradable containers can be fully implemented. Additionally, we were able to increase the awareness about the extent of the microplastics issue to our school administrators.

Learnings

Although we had some measured success in implementing a change at our school, the fact that our other proposals–to transition from plastic straws to biodegradable sugarcane straws and from plastic cups to paper alternatives–were not successful indicates, once again, the difficulty of overcoming the financial barriers of switching to more sustainable yet more expensive options.

Goal

Our goal was to mitigate plastic waste through careful planning and reuse of micropipette tips in our lab and educational activities (where appropriate).

Focused SDGs: SDG 3 SDG 12 SDG 13 SDG 14 SDG 15

Action

With careful planning and deliberate action throughout our lab and educational activities, our team was able to mitigate the excessive, unnecessary use of micropipette tips–one of the disposable plastic items in a lab. While tips could not be reused in the lab setting for sterility purposes, we made sure to reuse them in informal settings such as our Fun Fair booth and middle school workshops where contamination was not an issue.

Our lab experiments for each day were planned, including their procedures, so that each member knew what their role was in each step of the process. While this may sound obvious, this allowed us to engage in new sustainable habits in order to reduce overall waste.

Benefits

Most disposable pipette tips are made from plastics derived from fossil fuels. Producing, transporting, and disposing of these plastics releases greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change. Considering this, our team used micropipette tips responsibly to minimize the amount of greenhouse gases released in the atmosphere, in response to SDG 13, Climate Action.

In addition, disposable plastic tips are widely used in labs and often discarded after a single use. Improper disposal can contribute to plastic pollution, which eventually reaches rivers, seas, and oceans, harming aquatic life, or enters the soil and affects terrestrial life. Our team chose to dispose of micropipette tips responsibly or reused them when possible, to mitigate the possibility of them ending up in aquatic or terrestrial environments. As sub-target 14.1 of SDG 14 states, we worked to “prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution” in the form of plastics. In a similar way, SDG 15 was addressed through the protection of land-based ecosystems from pollution. Furthermore, proper waste management ensures our adherence to SDG 3–both short term for lab safety, as well as long term, to prevent plastic from returning to us in the form of microplastics.

An additional benefit we found with reducing our micropipette tips via careful lab planning was that we were able to be more efficient and organized in the lab. This shows that while reducing plastic usage may seem like a hassle or an inconvenience in some cases, our efforts can still go hand-in-hand with our lab practices to a certain extent if we try.

Learnings

While we were able to prevent the excessive use of micropipette tips and reduce the amount used, our sustainability measures were mostly limited to the act of not using more tips than needed, as lab practices understandably took precedence over the environmental considerations of tip usage. Especially considering the fact that we cannot control the outcome of our experiments, multiple aspects had to be repeated, necessitating the use of more tips. This illustrates the significant barriers to reducing plastic waste produced by labs, the healthcare industry, and other similar sectors where sanitation or contamination prevention is rightfully prioritized.

Goal

Thailand-RIS wanted to showcase and raise awareness about iGEM, our project and microplastics,

Focused SDGs: SDG 3 SDG 4 SDG 6 SDG 10 SDG 12

Action

On October 8th our iGEM team will host a high school workshop for our classmates and teachers. This workshop will focus on what iGEM is; the problems of plastics and microplastics, and their effects on humans and the environment; different lab techniques; and our main solution to reducing microplastics. We plan to do this workshop through an interactive approach, focusing on the SDGs 6, Clean water and sanitation, and 12, Responsible Consumption and Production. In addition, we plan on sharing the rules that we made for our iGEM meetings, in the hopes that our peers will take them beyond the workshop and apply them to their own clubs.

References

Action 1 sources:

• Blackburn, K., & Green, D. (2021). The Potential Effects of Microplastics on Human health: What Is Known and What Is Unknown. Ambio, 51(3), 518–530. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-021-01589-9
• Cox, David. “How Do the Microplastics in Our Bodies Affect Our Health?” Bbc.com, BBC, 25 July 2025, www.bbc.com/future/article/20250723-how-do-the-microplastics-in-our-bodies-affect-our-health.

Action 2 sources:

• Peng, Bangyuan, and Shengwang Yu. “A Study on Microplastic Emission from Disposable Straws and Its Dietary Relevance.” Microplastics, vol. 4, no. 3, Sept. 2025, p. 42, www.mdpi.com/2673-8929/4/3/42, https://doi.org/10.3390/microplastics4030042.
• Ritchie, Hannah. “How Much Plastic Waste Ends up in the Ocean?” Our World in Data, 5 Oct. 2023. Our World in Data, ourworldindata.org/how-much-plastic-waste-ends-up-in-the-ocean.
• Lwanga, Esperanza Huerta, et al. “Microplastic Appraisal of Soil, Water, Ditch Sediment and Airborne Dust: The Case of Agricultural Systems.” Environmental Pollution, vol. 316, 1 Jan. 2023, p. 120513, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749122017274, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120513. Accessed 23 Nov. 2022.
• Sajjad, Muhammad, et al. “Microplastics in the Soil Environment: A Critical Review.” Environmental Technology & Innovation, vol. 27, no. 102408, Aug. 2022, p. 102408, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352186422000724, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2022.102408.

Action 3 sources:

• RIS Sustainability - Presentation to AdCo
• RIS Sustainability - Presentation to AdCo.pdf
• Cox, David. “How Do the Microplastics in Our Bodies Affect Our Health?” Bbc.com, BBC, 25 July 2025, www.bbc.com/future/article/20250723-how-do-the-microplastics-in-our-bodies-affect-our-health.

Action 4 sources:

• (Team lab notes and internal planning materials.)

Action 5 sources:

• https://www.canva.com/design/DAGzBTM_2HI/lDQnOgUIutTAR9zXVjYSpA/edit?utm_content=DAGzBTM_2HI&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton