Fungi discovered in the Amazon will eat your plastic
Michael J. Cohen, writing for Fast Company’s Co.Exist blog:
The common plastic is used for everything from garden hoses to shoes and truck seats. Once it gets into the trash stream, it persists for generations. Anyone alive today is assured that their old garden hoses and other polyurethane trash will still be here to greet his or her great, great grandchildren. Unless something eats it.
The fungi, Pestalotiopsis microspora, is the first anyone has found to survive on a steady diet of polyurethane alone and—even more surprising—do this in an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment that is close to the condition at the bottom of a landfill.
If this pans out, it could be a huge deal. Of course, now I’m imagining this fungi getting lose and dissolving plastic everywhere, forcing us to invent a new type of plastic that’s impervious to it. AND THE CYCLE CONTINUES…