Plastic-eating fungus found in dumpsite

A fungus that can break down plastic waste in a matter of weeks has been discovered by Chinese and Pakistani scientists in a dumpsite in Pakistan, providing a potential natural solution for the world’s growing amount of plastic trash.

The research team from the Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB), Chinese Academy of Sciences has been investigating solutions to the problem of plastic waste, which ordinarily takes many years to decompose. Plastic polymers are xenobiotic, meaning that they have no non-synthetic characteristics that would aid their decomposition by bacteria, fungi, or small creatures that feed on other waste matter. Even when they do degrade, the researchers explained, plastic particles may remain in the environment, posing possible risks to human and environmental health.