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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPlastic-degrading fungus found in Pakistan rubbish dump
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/plastic-degrading-fungus-pakistan-rubbish-dump-islamabad-dr-sehroon-khan-a7962046.html"Polyurethane is used to manufacture a huge variety of everyday objects that end up as plastic waste.
Scientists believe they may have discovered one solution to the planets growing level of plastic waste in the form of a plastic-eating fungus.
Researchers who set out to find a naturally occurring means of degrading waste plastic safely, extracted samples from a rubbish dump outside Islamabad in Pakistan and found a soil fungus that was feeding on plastic."
MLAA
(17,301 posts)Warpy
(111,286 posts)If an energy source exists, life will evolve to exploit it.
It's why so many organisms have complicated genomes that don't seem to do anything, lots of wiggle room for when the environment changes.
MFM008
(19,818 posts)If it can be used to reduce the plastic load!
Princess Turandot
(4,787 posts)...from the English version of their website. (The research is being done by their Botany Institute.)
Watched by crows and vultures...
Watched by crows and vultures, the researchers took samples of soil and various pieces of rubbish in hopes of finding an organism which could feed on plastic waste in the same way that other fungi feed on dead plant or animal material.
Aspergillus tubingensis is a fungus which ordinarily lives in the soil. In laboratory trials, the researchers found that it also grows on the surface of plastics. It secretes enzymes onto the surface of the plastic, and these break the chemical bonds between the plastic molecules, or polymers.
Using advanced microscopy and spectroscopy techniques, the team found that the fungus also uses the physical strength of its mycelia the network of root-like filaments grown by fungi to help break apart the polymers. Plastics which persist in the environment for years can be broken down by A. tubingensis in a matter of weeks, the scientists say.
http://english.cas.cn/newsroom/research_news/201703/t20170330_175543.shtml
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)stop tackling the problems we all face and making important advances on many fronts just because we falter.
A couple of years ago I took the contents of an old shed to a big dump for toxic waste disposal and found what seemed like millions of black birds there. I was first fascinated just by the numbers flying around, but here and there part of the surface of the landfill plateau would billow up briefly and I realized why it looked black. Turned out to be a very interesting visit for a number of reasons.
DeminPennswoods
(15,286 posts)nt
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)madokie
(51,076 posts)What I mean is make it mandatory that we recycle all plastic that is made from petroleum