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C Moon

(12,188 posts)
Sun Sep 24, 2017, 02:05 AM Sep 2017

Plastic-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 planet’s 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."
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Plastic-degrading fungus found in Pakistan rubbish dump (Original Post) C Moon Sep 2017 OP
Very cool. Thanks for sharing. MLAA Sep 2017 #1
Like the radiation-loving bacteria they found in contaminated water at Hanford Warpy Sep 2017 #2
What a discovery MFM008 Sep 2017 #3
The Chinese Academy of Sciences site has a very good article on this with a bit more detail.. Princess Turandot Sep 2017 #4
Thanks for the additional detail. It's good to be reminded that the world won't Hortensis Sep 2017 #7
Cool! DeminPennswoods Sep 2017 #5
I, for one, welcome our new plastic-eating fungus overlords Achilleaze Sep 2017 #6
I lean towards making plastic recyclable madokie Sep 2017 #8

Warpy

(110,903 posts)
2. Like the radiation-loving bacteria they found in contaminated water at Hanford
Sun Sep 24, 2017, 02:19 AM
Sep 2017

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.

Princess Turandot

(4,784 posts)
4. The Chinese Academy of Sciences site has a very good article on this with a bit more detail..
Sun Sep 24, 2017, 05:00 AM
Sep 2017

...from the English version of their website. (The research is being done by their Botany Institute.)

Watched by crows and vultures...

“we knew that one way to do this would be to look to solutions which already existed in nature, but finding microorganisms which can do the job isn’t easy”. In the end, the research team found their plastic-eating fungus living in an appropriate venue – a rubbish tip in Islamabad, Pakistan.

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)
7. Thanks for the additional detail. It's good to be reminded that the world won't
Sun Sep 24, 2017, 07:32 AM
Sep 2017

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.

madokie

(51,076 posts)
8. I lean towards making plastic recyclable
Sun Sep 24, 2017, 07:37 AM
Sep 2017

What I mean is make it mandatory that we recycle all plastic that is made from petroleum

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