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Forum Post: Mushrooms that eat plastic

Posted 12 years ago on April 14, 2012, 5:54 p.m. EST by gestopomillyy (1695)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/more-mere-magic-mushrooms-154207424.html

this could be amazing!

One of the fungi we're looking at is called pestalotiopsis microspora. It was discovered by a group of Yale researchers on an expedition in Ecuador and can subsist on polyurethane alone in airless environments, like the bottom of a landfill.

The other comes from a couple of college friends who discovered that the sticky substance on the bottom of mushrooms called mycelium could be turned into a glue and when that glue is combined with corn husks and other food byproducts it takes on a form similar to Styrofoam. Their company, Ecovative wants used Styrofoam to become mulch, not waste.

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[-] 0 points by JuanFenito (847) 12 years ago

Good find.

Unfortunately, most of the plastics in landfills are ABS, polypropylene, polystyrene and polyethylene, but this is still really neat.