Common Molds in Soil Breaks Down Plastic Less Than 4 Months

According to research, two common molds in the soil can degrade plastics in as little as four months.

The Australian researchers said that they have successfully used a backyard mold to break down resistant plastics, offering hope for raising the low recycling rate for some plastics.

Common Molds in Soil vs. Plastic

According to research results recently published in the science journal npj Materials Degradation, researchers at the University of Sydney found through experiments that they could use two kinds of mold typically found in plants and soil - Aspergillus terreus and Engyodontium album - to break down tough plastic.

The tested plastics required the fungi 140 days to completely degrade them.

It is the highest degradation rate that has been documented and known to exist in the world, according to Ali Abbas, a professor of chemical engineering at the university.

Plastics in the Wind

It is encouraging news given that a Greenpeace report from 2022 revealed that the majority of recycled plastics in the US end up in landfills or the ocean, both of which release dangerous pollutants into the atmosphere. Only 5% of plastic was recycled to create new products, according to NPR.

According to Lisa Ramsden, a Greenpeace USA senior plastic campaigner, industries could triple the production of plastics by 2050, worsening the issue.

Experts in waste management claim that the cost of collecting and sorting plastic is the issue. There are now tens of thousands of distinct types of plastic. These variations cannot be melted down in combination. After one or two uses, plastic also starts to break down, and Greenpeace discovered that the more it is recycled, the more toxic it becomes.

Ramsden claimed that more plastic is being generated and that an even smaller proportion of it is being recycled, because new plastic is inexpensive and simple to produce, according to NPR.

Because it is frequently contaminated by substances such as food, recycling plastic remains a significant challenge in the waste industry, according to the Columbia Climate School.

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the US produced 292.4 million tons of municipal solid waste, but only 94 million tons, or about 32%, were recycled or composted in 2018. According to the agency, approximately about 50%, or 146 million tons, of waste was taken to landfills, and 35 million tons, or about 12% of waste, was burned.

Moving Forward

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, researchers are examining how to improve the efficiency and suitability of the fungi's degradation process at the University of Sydney.

According to Abbas, the research procedure might require the following three to five years. He also noted that numerous behavioral as well as business issues must be resolved in the interim, Insider reports.

Paul Harvey, an environmental scientist and authority on global plastic pollution, claims that this kind of research can be accelerated and that conclusions may be reached in as little as five years. Harvey was not involved in the study.

That does not, however, imply that individuals can use as much plastic as they please. Harvey claims that because the environmental crisis keeps getting worse, there is still a need for numerous approaches to managing waste and plastic pollution, ABC News reports.