The leicester university students pictured are working on a project to genetically engineer a new organism that will quickly break down polystyrene waste. The team of secondyear students, who make up leicester&rsquos international genetically engineered machine team igem, want to find examples of bacteria which already degrade polystyrene to help them design a more efficient organism.
To help them in the project, they are issuing &lsquocitizen science&rsquo kits to help with the research. In exchange for a small donation to the project, volunteers will receive a kit containing a piece of polystyrene which they can simply bury in their garden, allotment or plant pot and leave for several months before sending it back to the team in a postagepaid envelope. The polystyrene pieces will be tested in the lab for traces of microbes that have colonised and might be consuming it.
Project leader christopher morton, 20, a second year biological sciences undergraduate, said &ldquothe kits are a fun and easy way to get people involved in the experiment. &ldquothe main aim of the experiment is to find the elusive polystyrene degrading microbes. We hope this will get people thinking outside the box to try and place an experimental kit in an unusual place which will result in us finding the microbes.&rdquo vice project leader anthony cox, 21, who also studies biological sciences, said &ldquopublic engagement with this aspect of the project not only gives us a large number of samples from different areas, but also helps us to raise awareness. &ldquothe greatest thing the public will get out of the project will be the satisfaction of knowing they&rsquove helped out in a project which could ultimately be of great benefit to the environment.&rdquo
