Plastic-Eating Fungus Found by Scientists on Great Pacific Garbage Patch Feasting on Plastic Trash

Marine scientists have found a fungus born in the ocean that feeds on plastic trash.

They discovered this unique fungi in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Plastic-Eating Fungus

The discovery was detailed in the "Biodegradation of polyethylene by the marine fungus Parengyodontium album" study.

The fungus, dubbed Parengyodontiuim album, was found in thin microbe layers within and around the floating pile of plastics in the North Pacific.

Based on the study, this plastic-eating fungus is the fourth known marine fungus that can consume and break down plastic trash.

The researchers discovered that it specifically had the capacity to break down polyethylene that is carbon-based and UV-exposed. This type of plastic is the most used for consumer product production and can be found in products like grocery bags and water bottles. It is also the most pervasive plastic waveform that fills the oceans.

Annika Vaksmaa, the study's lead author and a marine biologist and biogeochemist from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), noted that it was known that UV light can mechanically break down plastic on its own.

The study also shows how it could also play a role in facilitating the biological breakdown of plastics done by marine fungi.

Reduce Plastic Use

However, the study does not mean that single-use plastics can be used and abandoned recklessly. The oceans are still filled with plastic pollutants that are destructive. Refraining the usage of plastic materials would still be the best way to keep the material from plugging up the oceans with garbage that harms animals and the environment.

It is still crucial to remove and mitigate plastic that has been clogging up the waterways of the Earth, though doing so is not simple. Marine life could end up disturbed by plastic trawling with large nets, and such efforts tend to be costly and even wasteful.

Hence, in light of searching for ways to reduce plastic in the ocean, the discovery of a fungus that could speed up the degradation of plastic is quite exciting. However, it is still not an absolute solution.

The study found that lab-grown P. album could break down a plastic piece that was UV-treated at a rate of around 0.05% each day in a nine-day period. With this rate, it would take quite a long time for the fungus to move through the whole Great Pacific Garbage Patch alone.

Nevertheless, the discovery is still heartening. The researchers also say that the discovery suggests the possible presence of more plastic-eating creatures.

Vaksmaa noted that marine fungi are capable of breaking down complex materials that consist of carbon. It is also likely that on top of the four identified species, there could also be others that contribute to the degradation of plastic.

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