Students in the Yale Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory course for undergraduates have discovered a species of fungus that eats polyurethane, a plastic that is used in thousands of products including items such as bedding, foam used in construction, surfboards, garden hoses, watchbands and even shoes. It can last for hundreds of years and although it can be recycled, landfills are still full of it.
The new fungus was found in the jungles of Ecuador during a search for plants. Fast Company’s CoExist reported on February 2, 2012 that a student carried it home with him and at the lab discovered that the fungus devours plastic.
The fungi, Pestalotiopsis microspora, is the first anyone has found to survive on a steady diet of polyurethane alone and--even more surprising--do this in an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment that is close to the condition at the bottom of a landfill.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology concluded that the microbe is a promising source of biodiversity…and trash compactors may someday be giant fields of voracious fungi.
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