How do you know which situation will apply to plastics if we manage to engineer bacteria that metabolise them?
You literally can't. History shows us that introducing new species with novel abilities to an ecosystem has far reaching, unforeseen, often devastating and usually irreversible consequences. Why would we risk this? Plastic digesting bacteria would be utterly novel and completely outside our control.
Edit: oh and the table is almost certainly treated with some chemical agent that helps preserve it. Be that paint or varnish...
> How do you know which situation will apply to plastics if we manage to engineer bacteria that metabolise them?
Life needs to obey physics and thus chemistry. Many plastics are already consumed by various bacteria in specific environments yet function perfectly well as TV remotes etc.
Further, plastics have a rather wide range of chemistry. Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) for example includes a lot of chlorine making it much harder for organic chemistry to deal with. Thus making it suitable for wet environments.
PS: Indoor wooden tables are coated in varnish largely to aid in cleaning and protection from ware. Kitchen cutting boards last for years demonstrating the difference between intermittently damp vs long term wet conditions.
You literally can't. History shows us that introducing new species with novel abilities to an ecosystem has far reaching, unforeseen, often devastating and usually irreversible consequences. Why would we risk this? Plastic digesting bacteria would be utterly novel and completely outside our control.
Edit: oh and the table is almost certainly treated with some chemical agent that helps preserve it. Be that paint or varnish...