Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) refer to 17 specific goals serving to achieve the blueprint for the well-being of the future human world as well as a better tomorrow for the planet. These goals were stipulated in The 2023 Agenda for Sustainable Development and would be implemented by all countries as the members of United Nations (United Nations, n.d.).

(via Wikimedia Commons)

Throughout the process of participating in iGEM 2024, Team SHSD has been addressing relevant SDGs as below:

Gender inequality in education has been a long-lasting concern, especially in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. According to the Gender Report of 2020 Global Education Monitoring Report conducted by UNESCO (UNESCO, 2020), there are continuous gender inequality and disparities in STEM education; women are underrepresented in specific STEM research fields and demonstrate a lack of self-confidence in STEM-related learning.

We respond to the goal of eliminating gender inequality, especially in STEM education, through the composition, management, and support system of the team. We are an iGEM team with a relatively balanced gender ratio with a slight female majority: among the 12 student members, 7 of them are girls and 5 of them are boys. Female members of the team were actively encouraged to run for leadership roles, just like male members. Among the three captains who voluntarily signed up, there was one girl and two boys, of which the female captain led the overall research and wet lab part, while the two male captains took on more communication and coordination work for the team. This assignment of duty was arranged based on the individual ability, passion, and willingness of each captain under the encouragement and support of advisors, which was, in a certain sense, different from the gender stereotype. In addition, our visual design and human practice groups have been led by girls, who fully displayed their talents and leadership and always received the credits they deserved.

We believe that our team has been carrying out the project in a way that responds to the goal of gender equality in various aspects throughout the timeline, and we will continue this effort in any and every future activity.

Our project focuses on the degradation of PET plastic. The source of PET plastic, or Polyethylene Terephthalate, is petroleum, which is one of the most important non-renewable resources in human society. The mass production of PET plastic not only causes environmental pollution problems but also indirectly exaggerates the energy burden on the earth due to its high dependence on petroleum resources, which deviates from the goal of Affordable and Clean Energy.

However, the biodegradation solution we have been exploring aims to use recombinant Fast-PETase and MHETase enzymes to increase the degradation rate of PET plastics in the natural environment. The plastics degraded by the enzymes will turn out to be TPA, MHET, and EG, which are also the main raw materials for synthesizing PET plastics (Koshti et al., 2018). From this, we can look forward to achieving sustainable closed-loop recycling from waste PET to new PET.

Moreover, we noticed that many iGEM teams have previously focused on the biodegradation of PET plastics, too. Through the research of this project, we plan to cooperate and communicate with other teams on relevant topics to jointly provide innovative solutions to solve the global PET plastic pollution problem and promote the sustainable recycling of PET plastics.

In our project, we successfully cultivated a new strain of silkworms that can efficiently express two PET-plastic-degrading enzymes, Fast-PETase and MHETase. With the silk secreted by these silkworms, we can degrade PET plastic in a daily-life scenario.

This research outcome has great potential for industrial application. First, it provides a new strain selection for silkworm breeders. Breeding this new transgenic silkworm may generate higher economic returns and attract more people to engage in this field. Secondly, the processing and manufacturing of this new type of transgenic silk may also bring new opportunities to the silk products industry, promote further exchanges and cooperation between the industry and the scientific community, and provide more sustainable economic development potential and employment opportunities.

We have been preparing the materials and data required to apply for relevant patents. We look forward to attracting the attention of investors through this project and seeking partners to jointly promote the commercialization process of this technology so that this innovative achievement can be applied to actual production and environmental protection more quickly.

The inequality in mobility caused by differences in physical strength is the main motivation for our team to consider, design, and practice the Engineering Process. When we conducted community observations on the daily use of PET plastics, we paid attention to the elderly people who carried heavy loads and then hoped to design a movable bucket so that the elderly, patients, children, the disabled, and other people with physical disadvantages can carry water and other heavy loads more easily, and achieve the same or similar mobility and carrying capacity as other groups. Later, we added safety considerations into our design, using LED lights to guide and warn, to ensure the safety of this vulnerable group in the process of moving. We hope that these efforts can serve as a good start to help us continue to pay attention to, explore, and practice how to eliminate inequalities in the world.

Our project interactively reflects and interprets Goal 11 and Goal 12 of SDGs. Based on the Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Virgin and Recycled), Application (Rigid Packaging, Film, Sheets & Straps, and Others), and Regional Forecast, 2024-2032 (Fortune Business Insights, 2023), In 2023, the global PET plastic market size is about 48.43 billion US dollars, and the Asia-Pacific region dominates the global PET plastic consumption with a market share of about 38.51%. We have personally experienced that our lives are filled with PET plastics, and during the continuous learning and exploration of our iGEM project, we have been constructing a deeper understanding of the impact of this phenomenon on the cities and communities where we live. Achieving our research goals, especially the long-term goals, will undoubtedly promote the degradation and recycling of PET plastics through a means of integration into daily life, and then make our cities and communities more sustainable.

In addition, in this process, our members have further improved their original lifestyles, consciously reduced the use and waste of PET plastic products, developed the habit of classified recycling, and popularized relevant knowledge and living habits to people around them and further.

The origin of our research passion for the PET plastic issue is largely due to the concern for marine life, which has been exhibited in our promotion video. As one of the ultimate destinations of PET plastic that has not been degraded or effectively recycled, marine life and the marine environment have been hugely suffering from PET plastic pollution. Delaeter et al. (2022) state that about 4 to 12 million tons of plastics are dumped into the ocean every year, bringing various types of threats including physical and chemical.

We care about the creatures in the ocean, and we believe that our research, together with our popularization of sustainable plastic consumption and improved urban lifestyles, can do our part to improve their ecological environment.

Delaeter, C., Spilmont, N., Bouchet, V. M., & Seuront, L. (2022). Plastic leachates: Bridging the gap between a conspicuous pollution and its pernicious effects on marine life. Science of The Total Environment, 826, 154091.

File:Sdgs-osh.png. (2023, December 13). Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved 00:12, October 1, 2024 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sdgs-osh.png&oldid=830377635.

Fortune Business Insights. (n.d.). Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) market size, share & industry analysis, by type (virgin and recycled), application (rigid packaging, film, sheets & straps, and others), and regional forecast, 2024-2032. Fortune Business Insights. https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/polyethylene-terephthalate-pet-market-101743

Koshti, R., Mehta, L., and Samarth, N. (2018). Biological recycling of polyethylene terephthalate: a mini-review. J. Polym. Environ. 26, 3520–3529. doi: 10.1007/s10924-018-1214-7

UNESCO. (2020). A new generation: 25 years of efforts for gender equality in education. Global Education Monitoring Report. UNESCO. https://www.unesco.org/gem-report/en/2020-gender-report

United Nations. (n.d.). The 17 goals. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. https://sdgs.un.org/goals