An astonishing marine fungus consuming debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is providing new hope as a natural solution to toxic plastic waste. Microbiologists at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) discovered a fungus named Parengyodontium album that can break down polyethylene, the most prevalent type of plastic waste in our oceans.
“What makes this research scientifically outstanding, is that we can quantify the degradation process,” explained lead author Annika Vaksmaa in NIOZ’s writeup, published by Phys.org.
While many bacteria are known to degrade plastic, only four types of fungus, including P. album, have been identified to do the same. P. album requires sunlight to function, which researchers replicated with UV radiation in the lab, indicating it can only degrade plastics at ocean surfaces. This discovery suggests there may be other marine fungi species that also contribute to plastic degradation, waiting to be identified.
“There are numerous amounts of marine fungi, so it is likely that in addition to the four species identified so far, other species also contribute to plastic degradation,” Vaksmaa said. “There are still many questions about the dynamics of how plastic degradation takes place in deeper layers.”
The significance of this discovery is underscored by the alarming presence of over 170 trillion plastic particles polluting our waters. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a massive accumulation of debris driven together by ocean currents, is a stark symbol of this environmental crisis.
“Large amounts of plastics end up in subtropical gyres, ring-shaped currents in oceans in which seawater is almost stationary,” Vaksmaa noted. “That means once the plastic has been carried there, it gets trapped there.”
Efforts to combat this pollution have made some headway. Organizations, cleanup crews, and scientists are working tirelessly to address the problem, including initiatives in the Pacific patch. An Indonesian nonprofit has developed barriers to prevent plastic debris from entering the ocean and has launched a company to convert that waste into useful products. The Ocean Cleanup’s Interceptor is another tool aimed at stopping plastic before it reaches the ocean.
Individuals can also support these efforts by opting for plastic-free alternatives in their daily lives, from reusable sandwich bags to shampoo bars. Despite these promising actions, unassisted plastics can take tens to hundreds of years to break down, releasing harmful gases like methane as they degrade, which contribute to global warming.
Given the severity of the plastic pollution problem, finding organisms that can degrade plastics has become an urgent task. Previous discoveries, such as a plastic-gobbling enzyme and a common bacterium found in soil and sewage, have shown promise. The findings from NIOZ, published in Science of the Total Environment, may now add a crucial piece to the puzzle in our quest to clean up the oceans.
The ongoing research into P. album and other potential plastic-degrading organisms offers a glimmer of hope for the future. By harnessing these natural solutions, we can work towards mitigating the environmental impact of plastic waste and safeguarding the health of our planet.