For decades, plastic has posed one of the greatest environmental threats to the planet. It builds up in oceans, harms marine life, and can take hundreds of years to break down—particularly durable varieties like polyurethane. Now, however, scientists have been stunned by a new finding: a marine species capable of degrading this very type of plastic, offering fresh hope in the fight against ocean pollution.
Deep-Sea Discovery Offers Hope Against Plastic Pollution
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reports that people produce about 400 million tons of plastic worldwide each year, and a large share of it flows into the oceans, threatening marine life and entire ecosystems.Yet, a remarkable deep-sea discovery may offer a way to ease this seemingly unsolvable environmental crisis.
A team from the University of Hawaii has discovered marine fungi that can break down polyurethane. Their study centered on fungi collected from sand, seaweed, coral, and sponges along Hawaii’s coast. The researchers placed these fungi in dishes containing polyurethane to track how quickly they consumed the plastic. The outcome was striking: over 60% of the ocean-derived fungi were able to digest it.
Read the original article on: Terra
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