THE Grapevine

ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS AND UPDATES

COMPILED BY JO IMMIG

THE FUNGI THAT ATE PLASTIC Australian scientists have isolated common fungi species from plants and soil that can be harnessed to break down polypropylene, a plastic widely used in many everyday items such as takeaway containers and cling film. Like most plastics, polypropylene doesn’t readily degrade and only about 1 per cent is currently recycled so it represents a massive environmental pollution and resource challenge. Professor Abbas, who leads the team of researchers at the University of Sydney, is the first to acknowledge their findings are no magic bullet and points out plastic production needs to be drastically reduced to address the plastic challenge. The two fungi investigated — Aspergillus terreus and Engyodontium album — took 90 days to degrade 27 per cent of the plastic tested and around 140 days to break it…

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Good Organic Gardening (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue #14.3

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