Plastic pollution, exemplified by the giant floating island of trash the size of Texas in the Pacific ocean, is highly detrimental to the world's ecosystem because it breaks down extremely slow. In fact, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, plastic doesn't actually biodegrade:
"Plastics do not biodegrade, although, under the influence of solar UV radiations, plastics do degrade and fragment into small particles, termed microplastics."This presents humans with a challenge that must soon be met, considering much of our plastic trash ends up in the ocean where it breaks down into toxic microplastics, winding up in sea life. Not only is this dangerous to the sea life, but it's also dangerous to people because we end up consuming these very fish which we are poisoning with our trash.
Many groups and organizations have been formed to clean up plastic that ends up washing ashore on our beaches, but the vast majority of plastic pollution ends up in the ocean. The planet has a growing addiction to cheap and industrious plastic, increasing in use exponentially every year with no end in sight.
Comment: The Plague of Plastic killing the world's oceans:
- Are We Witnessing the Death of Our Planet?
- Plastic Trash in Oceans May Be 'Vastly' Underestimated
- Great Pacific Garbage Patch' Plastic Has Increased Hundredfold Since the 1970s
- The world's rubbish dump: a garbage pit that stretches from Hawaii to Japan
- Something the entire world should see - most of us are simply unaware
- A Passion to Clean up the Pacific Ocean's Great 'GarbagePatch'
- What is the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch?
- Pacific Ocean garbage patch worries researchers
- Plastic trash vortex menaces Pacific sealife: study
- Huge Garbage Patch Found in Atlantic Too
This is why the discovery of plastic-eating fungus is so exciting. According to Inhabitat,
On an expedition to the rainforest of Ecuador, students from Yale's Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry discovered a previously unknown fungus that has a healthy appetite for polyurethane. According to Fast Company, the fungus is the first one that is known to survive on polyurethane alone, and it can do so in an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment, which suggests that it could be used at the bottom of landfills.The discovery was published in the scientific journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Researchers were also able to isolate the enzyme responsible for decomposing the plastic.
It isn't exactly clear how this fungus will be implemented in bioremediation, but one can picture floating plastic islands covered in mushrooms which will eat the entire trash pile then sink into the ocean.
It's also important to wean ourselves away from petroleum based plastics because they require many resources just to manufacture, and pollution doesn't start or end with the trash in the gutter. Many other sustainable options are available which could used instead, like hemp based or other plant based plastics.
Imagine the surprise when an outbreak of fungi and bacteria that eat plastics hits. Your computer, car, food storage products, medical supplies, etc. will fall victim. The response will be to quickly change formulas, which will temporarily fix the problem. But, like all solutions that kick the can down the road, the law of diminishing returns is encountered. A quick look at the problems facing pharmaceuticals and pesticides/weed control are perfect examples.
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