Fungi and Sunlight: the Plastic-Waste-Breaking Duo

A team of scientists based in the Netherlands may have found an antidote for plastic waste: a marine fungus activated by sunlight able to break down a substance largely common in marine litter.

“It was already known that UV light mechanically breaks down plastic itself, but our results show that it also facilitates the biological degradation of plastic by marine fungi,” explains study lead author Annika Vaksmaa of the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ).

Upon examining the microbes living on the plastic waste collected in the North Pacific, NIOZ’s team found Parengyodonium album, a fungus able to break down particles of plastic polyethylene (PE) when first in contact with sunlight. The UV light determines the speed at which P. album breaks down PE. Indeed, it can break down 0.44% of a piece of plastic daily. The fungus P. album converts PE into carbon dioxide – a greenhouse gas – but the amount released is roughly equivalent to what humans release when breathing. Parengyodonium album is the fourth marine fungus known to be able to break down plastic.