Marine Fungus Called 'Parengyodontium Album' Has Appetite for Plastic Waste, Can Break Down Plastic Polyethylene 0.05% Per Day [Study]

Marine plastic pollution has been an environmental and ecological issue globally for several decades. This contamination ranges from the Atlantic Ocean to the garbage patches of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The plastic waste problem affects aquatic life and their ecosystems, which is fragile from chemicals and other contaminants from plastic polyethylene materials.

Since plastics cannot be completely eradicated from existence, governments in the past have implemented different measures, including single-use plastic ban. Scientists even sought the help of pathogens such as bacteria to help us break down accumulating plastic materials, both on land and marine environments. Now, scientists from the Netherlands have found a plastic-eating marine fungus that can take on the job.

Ocean Plastic Pollution

Ocean plastic pollution has become a "global crisis" since billions of pounds of plastic materials end up in swirling convergences that accounts for about 40% of the world's ocean surfaces, according to the organization Center for Biological Diversity. Affecting not only humans, the marine plastic pollution problem poses both a dangerous and a deadly threat on wildlife, including sea turtles, seabirds, and marine mammals.

In previous years, thousands of these animals have reportedly died either due to plastic ingestion or getting entangled from these materials. The Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi) and Pacific loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) are some of the hundreds of species that can mistakenly consume plastic litter and get stuck in them, according to the said organization.

Marine Fungus Eats Plastic Waste

In light of the new study, the said marine fungus was initially found living in the North Pacific Garbage Patch. Based on the recent study, researchers confirmed that the fungal species, called Parengyodontium album, can break down plastic polyethylene 0.05% per day. The novel findings by the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) were published in the journal Science of The Total Environment.

The Dutch research team arrived at their conclusion by isolating specimens of P. album from plastic debris collected in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. However, the marine fungus must first be exposed to ultraviolet radiation from the Sun before it can chunk on plastic polyethylene. The findings also provide the possibility that other plastic-eating fungi are living in the depths of the ocean.

In a media release on June 3, the NIOZ stated that the marine fungus in the Pacific Ocean also lives with other marine microbes in layers of floating plastic debris. Marine microbiologists from the Dutch research organization found the plastic-degrading microbes in plastic hotspot areas in the North Pacific Ocean, where sunlight is required to kickstart the P. album's appetite for plastic waste.

The researcher team involved in the study are expecting that other unknown fungi are degrading ocean plastics as well but have not yet been discovered. In addition, discovery of additional microbes could eventually help in the process of plastic degradation in the future.