Cow stomachs could hold the secret to recycling plastic bottles, clothing and food containers made using polymers with titles such as PET, PBAT and PEF.

PET, or polyethylene terephthalate to give it its full name, is used for approximately 30 percent of global plastic bottle production and now researchers have discovered microbes in cows guts that can be used to break down PET products for recycling. 

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The group of plastics is already among the easiest to recycle, but the discovery is a step towards finding ways to "digest" tougher forms of plastic. 

"Maybe we can find enzymes that can also degrade polypropylene and polyethylene," said researcher Doris Ribitsch of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna. 

Ribitsch explained a group of enzymes called "cutinases" are used to break up plant cells and are found in the stomach liquid of hooved animals such as cows, which digest their food more than once. In their latest study published by the journal Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Ribitsch and her colleagues found the chemicals could degrade plastics used in compostable bags and the packaging for fruit juices and alcoholic beverages.

By extracting the "rumen" as the liquid is known and covering the plastic products with it for three days, the team in Vienna found it could be "digested," researchers told the publication Live Science.