Rabbit holes and plastic eaters ...

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I am sick today (woke up worse than yesterday), so I can't make anything or see anyone, or even talk on the phone (my voice is nearly useless too) ... blah.

Anyway ... I am distracting myself by diving down rabbit-holes, following trains of thought to ridiculous lengths.
It's only just after 9:30 in the morning, but this one is a beauty, so I thought I might share it! :mrgreen:

This is a list (so far short, but it will probably grow) of plastic eating organisms. Without further ado ... for no reason whatsoever, here they are:

Bacteria:
[FONT=&quot]Ideonella sakaiensis (PET plastic)[/FONT]

Fungi
[FONT=&quot]Aspergillus tubingensis ([/FONT]polyester polyurethane plastic[FONT=&quot])
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]Pestalotiopsis microspore [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot](PET in anaerobic conditions)[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[/FONT]

Caterpillars
[FONT=&quot]Galleria mellonella[/FONT] (Nickname: “Wax worm” plastic bags)
- Note, cocoon of the caterpillar will also dissolve plastic
 
Last edited:
IrishLass, I agree!

To answer your question, the times appear to be:

6 weeks for the bacteria in ideal conditions.

2 months (roughly) for the fungi

But the caterpillars are the quickest, taking just 40 minutes to eat a hole in a plastic bag!

Some references:
Bacteria:
Ideonella sakaiensis: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/351/6278/1196

Fungi:
Pestalotiopsis microspore: https://permaculturenews.org/2017/08/16/plastic-eating-fungi/

Aspergillus tubingensis
: http://www.thehindu.com/news/intern...ay-help-clean-environment/article17763461.ece

Caterpillar:
Galleria mellonella: http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/a-caterpillar-so-hungry-it-will-even-eat-plastic/

Fascinating! I wonder how long it takes for the organisms to break them down?


IrishLass :)
 
I vaguely remember something about them trying to use bacteria/etc on the plastic bags but then ran into an issue with the bags breaking down on the store shelves in a test....or I was in a rabbit hole LOL:bunny:
 
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