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Newly Discovered Fungus Could Eat the Plastic Out of Landfills

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

"gewg_" writes:

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

Original Submission

• Re:What could go wrong?Re:What could go wrong? (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 22 2015, @05:16PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 22 2015, @05:16PM (#199511)

  it can do so in an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment, suggesting it could be used at the bottom of landfills.

  First, I've never seen an "airless" landfill.

  What you means is that you've never seen the bottom of a landfill

  Don't confuse anerobic with airless.
  The summary even spelled it out for you: oxygen-free.

  Parent

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• Article from a non-techie site(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 22 2015, @07:59PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 22 2015, @07:59PM (#199564)

  I have been chastised here for linking to non-techie sites.
  I like the way those generally break things down into bite-sized bits so an everyman can consume them.

  As I was preparing the summary, I was thinking that the thing you pointed to might be a little too kindergarten for this crowd.
  After this subthread, I'm now less inclined to second-guess myself.

  -- gewg_

  Parent