Does UV kill everything?
No, it turns out you can’t kill plastic. I’ve actually had a good look into it and if it has DNA, exposure to UV light will mess it up. I choose my words carefully, I thought that going into thymine dimmer reactions and excision might confuse us all (That proves I’ve been researching).
I’ll explain, not just leave it at that. Some things are more resistant to UV exposure to others. This has nothing to do with its DNA, this will react the same way to UV exposure in every instance. More so, the structure that surrounds the DNA has different properties in every instance. Examples at both ends of the spectrum are:
E.coli, while slightly resistant to atmospheric levels of UV, the unicellular structure of E.coli does little to protect it from even a slight over exposure to UV. Receiving a standard dosage from a water based UV unit will decimate an E.coli presence. Good for us as it’s one of the more well known waterborne bacteria.
Endospores on the other hand are the opposite. Endospore is the name for the state that certain bacteria hibernate into, not the bacteria itself. When in this state the bacteria have hunkered down for the long run, waiting for favourable conditions. Endospores thick outer layers are resistant to temperature, chemicals and yes, UV radiation. I found out these can survive in boiling water for hours, as well as being able to shrug off 99% of your 99.99% kitchen cleaning products. An impressive evolution if ever there was one. Luckily, they will be picked up by simple water test and while resistant, the thick wall is made of a mesh of proteins that are broken down with UV. While these would need over 10 minutes of contact time with a concentrated bleach solution (According to Wikipedia ^^), an upgraded UV setup will destroy them to the same standard in a fraction of the time.
