It looks like George Carlin is right again, even more than ten years after his death. In his famous āSaving the Planetā standup comedy act, he takes the piss outā¦
This is actually pretty exciting. Theyāve found a way to turn plastic into food.
Mushrooms are such amazing things. Most are decomposers, meaning they break stuff down into its original components. Some break down dead wood, or animals, others can break down toxic waste, and apparently this one can break down plastic. How cool is that?
Pestalotiopsis microspora (a mushroom found in the Amazon rainforest) consumes polyurethane, the key ingredient in plastic products, and converts it to organic matter.Ā
Further, Pestalotiopsis microspora can live without oxygen, which suggests enormous potential for feeding on, and thus cleaning up, landfills.
It takes just a few weeks for the mycelium to start breaking down plastic, and in a few monthsā time, the plastic is completely broken down, and all thatās left is a white puffy mushroom. Even if not eaten or used for anything else, the mushroom could be composted and turned in to soil at a much faster rate than that of plastic, which is estimated to take 400 years to decompose on its own.
