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And this is me riding a tiny pink bike

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Fun guy chillin’ in South American rainforest finds plastic-eating fungi

Seriously, though this is kind of a big deal. Know that big problem we have? You know, the one involving a crapload of used plastic hanging around in landfills with nowhere to biodegrade for a couple million years? Well, Jonathan Russell might’ve solved that problem. See, Russell and his fellow Yale students went to Ecuador, where they found a new kind of fungus they’re calling Pestalotiopsis microspora. Big deal, you’re thinking. Anyone can find fungus anywhere! Well, something his fellow students found out after the fact is that this fungus can live on a diet of polyurethane alone — and even crazier, it doesn’t even need air to do so! In other words, we could potentially put it at the bottom of a landfill and cover it with plastic, and it would do the rest of the work. This might be game-changing if it works as advertised. (photo via Flickr user dbutt; EDIT: Updated with link to research abstract) source

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Wow

The life I lead could potentially be less filled with guilt.

Someone explain to me if this is better or worse than recycling.

“Better or worse” is a bit simplistic. Even if plastics could be cleanly disposed of immediately, recycling is very important: recycling means that less original resources (in this case, oil) need to be used to create new plastic items. This fungi would most definitely be useful in decreasing the problems of landfills, but it won’t stop the oil running out. But, hopefully with this new discovery, the stuff that can’t be (or isn’t) recycled will not be sitting around forever in the ground.

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