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posted by CoolHand on Monday June 22 2015, @03:39PM   Printer-friendly
from the we're-sticking-with-pizza dept.

AlterNet reports

Thanks to a group of [students from Yale's Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry] who discovered a new type of fungus in the Ecuadorian rainforest, a semi-solution may soon be available to help speed up the decomposition process of plastics sitting in landfills.

[...]The fungus is the first one that is known to survive on polyurethane alone, and it can do so in an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment, suggesting it could be used at the bottom of landfills.

[...]A large reason plastics like polyurethane take so long to break down is that microorganisms don't typically recognize it as food, therefore it can take centuries for man-made polymers to break down into microscopic granules. The discovery of Pestalotiopsis microspora may change all that.

The students of Yale isolated the enzyme that enables the fungus to break down plastic then observed its potential.

"The broad distribution of activity observed and the unprecedented case of anaerobic growth using [polyester polyurethane] as the sole carbon source suggest that endophytes are a promising source of biodiversity from which to screen for metabolic properties useful for bioremediation," they wrote in a report published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday June 22 2015, @04:30PM

    by Thexalon (636) on Monday June 22 2015, @04:30PM (#199479)

    Why break it down? Why not recycle it?

    Because the plastic currently resides in a a big pile of non-plastic stuff, and sorting out the plastic from the other stuff is expensive.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
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  • (Score: 4, Funny) by toygeek on Monday June 22 2015, @05:06PM

    by toygeek (28) on Monday June 22 2015, @05:06PM (#199504) Homepage

    That's where the grandkids come in...

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    There is no Sig. Okay, maybe a short one. http://miscdotgeek.com
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by morgauxo on Monday June 22 2015, @05:45PM

    by morgauxo (2082) on Monday June 22 2015, @05:45PM (#199519)

    It's probably easier than extracting oil from shale to make new plastic. Those sources that are too difficult to be worth the trouble today are the cheapest options when the easiest sources start to run out. I think we should leave the plastic alone, future generations will probably need it.