Since decades, “Plastic Pollution” is one of the biggest problems our earth is facing.

Effect of plastic pollution is visible in the form of a giant floating island of trash in the Pacific Ocean. The size of the floating trash is no less than the size of Texas. These plastics are highly detrimental to our earth as it breaks down in an extremely slow manner. In fact, according to the National centre of biotechnology Information, plastics actually don’t biodegrade at all.

“Plastics do not biodegrade, although under the influence of UV radiations, plastics do degrade and fragment into the small particles called as micro plastics.”

This is the present human challenge to biodegrade plastics completely and that’s what is making this discovery of plastic eating fungus, so exciting.

On an excursion to the rain-forest of Ecuador, students from Yale’s Department of Molecular Biophysics and biochemistry discovered a previously unknown fungus that has a special liking towards polyurethane. According to fast company, the fungus is the special because it is known to survive on polyurethane alone, and it can do so in an anaerobic environment. This suggests that it could be used at the bottom of landfills.

Researchers were even able to isolate the enzymes which are responsible for the decomposition of plastics.

The study was published in the scientific journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Right now, It isn’t very clear how this fungus will be used in bio-remediation. But, the news let us dream peacefully about a floating plastic island which is covered in mushrooms deployed for bio-remediation. Once the entire trash pile is eaten the residue will sink into the ocean.

Isn’t that a great thing to dream about?

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Author: Technology and Beyond