article - amazonian rainforest fungus eats polyurethane, potentially solving a big landfill problem
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8/22/2019 ARTICLE - Amazonian Rainforest Fungus Eats Polyurethane, Potentially Solving a Big Landfill Problem
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Amazonian Rainforest Fungus Eats Polyurethane, Potentially Solvinga Big Landfill Problem
14 COMMENTS
ByRebecca Boyle Posted 02.01.2012 at 3:17 pm
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TAGSScience, Rebecca Boyle, amazon rainforest,
biodegradable plastic, fungi, fungus,
microorganisms, new species, plastics,rainforest
Plastic Bags in Landfill Samuel Mann via Flickr
To the multitude of arguments for protecting rainforest biodiversity, heres a new addition: An Amazonian fungus could eat our most durable landfill waste. A group of students from Yale
found the fungus during an expedition to Ecuador and learned it breaks down polyurethane.
This plastic is one of those modern chemical compounds found in so many products, its pointless to count from Spandex to garden
hoses, for a start and it is prized for both its flexibility and rigidity. The problem is that like many other polymers, it does not break
down readily. This means it persists in landfills, as Fast Company points out. It burns pretty well, but that releases carbon monoxide
and other gases into the atmosphere, so its a nonstarter in most situations. Something that can degrade it naturally would be a better
solution.
The fungus calledPestalotiopsis microspora can subsist on a diet of polyurethane alone, and do so in an anaerobic environment,
according to the researchers who found it. The Yale team isolated the enzyme that enables this fungus to do its work and noted it could
be used for bioremediation.
Its odd to think of a microorganism eating up a durable synthetic material, but this would not be a first, by a long shot; bacteria and
fungi can break down lots of things. A bacterial species called Halomonas titanicae is eating the RMS Titanic, for instance. We just
need to know where to find these hungry species and the rainforest is a good place to look.
[Fast Company[
Robot
02/01/12 at 3:49 pm
Yes the first knee jerk feeling is we get rid of trash.
But also in life plastics are a good thing.
The first thought came into my mind, what if I have a plastic heart, heart
value or some other plastic thing in my body and I breathe this fungus
thing?
I like for this fungus to work, but it has to be manageable too.
.............................
Science sees no further than what it can sense.
Religion sees beyond the senses.
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azonian Rainforest Fungus Eats Polyurethane, Potentially Solving ... http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-02/rainforest-fungus-eats-...
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ToomeyND 02/01/12 at 3:56 pm
In other news, the rainforest was cut down to make room for a new
landfill...
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D13 02/01/12 at 4:21 pm
Wow, thats pretty awesome.
"Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to
realize the truth. There is no spoon."
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-my name here- 02/01/12 at 4:34 pm
now why on earth would a fungus be able to metabolize polyurethane, and
an environment where none exists in the first place? that's what I would like
to know.
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comprehensible -Albert Ein
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PsychosomaticRob
02/01/12 at 5:14 pm
Even if this was true, think about it:
What would the fungus exhale as a byproduct? Couldn't whatever gas it is
be potentially dangerous as well? And though the recycling of plastic is
very harmful with the release of carbon monoxide, we could still find a
potentially safer way to recycle it.
Plastic is also very useful, and you can't just get rid of it until a substitute is
found.
Also, how would people get the fungus and plastic in contact with each
other? You'd either have to put all the plastic over in the rainforest, or ship
the fungus to landfills if scientists couldn't just help it grow somewhere else.
But it would be pretty amazing if this was true.
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BioZombie 02/01/12 at 11:09 pm
well i hope if this is the new thing for getting rid of plastic its done in a
confined environment dont need my plastic bowls eatin i would be one mad
guy if i woke up and my midnight cereal bowl was gone...lol...
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TeXie 02/02/12 at 2:22 am
Life always finds it's way. It will be interesting when your window, attached
to the walls by PU-foam, falls out of the wall due to funghi attack.
Sometimes inertness is really useful.
Perhaps the politicians better should think about seeing the garbage as the
gold mines of tomorrow and start to push recycling on a big scale instead
of "landfilling" .
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quseio2 02/02/12 at 3:28 am
my guess is the so called "rubber"trees are why it can eat poly,natural
rubber isn't to dissimilar to poly
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bombastinator 02/02/12 at 5:06 am
It could cause another giant landfill problem though.
The liner used in most retired landfills to keep toxic waste from leaking into
the ground water is made of what? POLYURETHANE.
This is as much a potential catastrophe as a boon.
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matsci1 02/02/12 at 6:41 am
Recycling is always an alternativeif people want to that is.
Here in Germany the garbage is separated into
Glass- deposited at drop off points located around the neighborhoods
Paper- special dumpsters or green garbage cans
Metal and Plastic---special yellow trashbags
Bio---vegetable, food and cooking waste goes in the brown garbage can
Rest garbage--- Grey garbage can. Anything that does not go into the
other catagories.like a painted board or dry wall.
There is actually very little that needs to be landfilled here. There are
incinerating plants in a lot of cities that burn the garbage generate heat orLink to this comment
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electricity.
D13 02/02/12 at 7:26 am
7 billion people create a lot of garbage. all possibilities should be
considered. most of the people in India/China/Africa are not recycling and
those are the biggest populations.
"Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to
realize the truth. There is no spoon."
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Porphy
02/02/12 at 10:59 am
I'd hate to think they let this go mainstream for application and didn't
consider the ramifications of it being ingested and possibly killing someone.
It seems obvious to modify the fungi or find a way to use the enzyme
specifically instead of the fungus.
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beefymclovin 02/02/12 at 11:56 am
id like to the rate it eats it, possible byproducts, is it safe for human contact,
and does it plan to take over the world?
i can see some scientist gene splicing that code for digestion into a
bacteria that digests plastics...
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Onihikage
02/03/12 at 5:28 pm
I know of a team that's built a machine which uses a particular microwave
frequency to break down rubber back into oil, very cleanly. But have they
gotten any news?
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3 2012/02/10 08:24 AM
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