How to Decompose a Plastic Bag

"Teen Decomposes Plastic Bag in Three Months"
Wired (May 23, 2008)

"Plastic takes thousands of years to decompose -- but 16-year-old science fair contestant Daniel Burd made it happen in just three months.

"The Waterloo, Ontario high school junior figured that something must make plastic degrade, even if it does take millennia, and that something was probably bacteria.

"(Hey, at between one-half and 90 percent of Earth's biomass, bacteria's a pretty safe bet for any biological mystery.)..."

Actually, it's a bit more than a guess. Mr. Burd isolated the bacteria involved: One's from the genus Pseudomonas, the other's from the genus Sphingomonas.

More:

"WCI student isolates microbe that lunches on plastic bags
The Record (May 22, 2008)

The article says that the teenager ground the plastic bags into powder, then used "household chemicals, yeast and tap water to create a solution that would encourage microbe growth. To that, he added the plastic powder and dirt...."

Wow. Sounds like a relatively cheap, and quite simple, process - Kudos.