this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2025
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Fungi: mycelia, mushrooms & more
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As awesome as this is, just imagine if these plastic eating fungi and bacteria end up spreading beyond the desired landfills and pollution zones and gets into our homes, businesses and factories. Imagine having to have your house fumigated because all your plastic items are slowly but surely rotting away right in front of you...
That's a pretty extreme "what if" scenario. Plastics and climate change are already doing those things in a way so I don't see how that can invalidate the good here. There is certainly a middle ground.
Hey, on the flip side of that same plastic coin, imagine if they could make these organisms into a safe to consume pill form, where the fungi and/or bacteria could consume all the microplastics in our brains, blood, testicles...
But then it would consume the good micro plastics
Shit, I didn't consider the dissolved condom theory..
So, ah, a lot of electrical wiring is insulated with plastic... including the wiring in your walls, in vehicles, in communication systems...
Plus you have components like capacitors which require plastic membranes to function, and most circuit boards are on plastic substrates.
That's not related to the type of plastic pollution that the article is proposing fungi as a remedy for. I think that's clear. Seems like an odd place ot make a case for the importance of plastics
Mercedes already has known issues with their wiring harnesses intentionally degrading, to be biodegradable, and they won't even cover that shit under warranty.
And I think you're missing the point we're trying to make. The plastic eating fungi and bacteria might be intended to only be applied to areas we consider pollution, but those organisms don't give a shit what we do or don't consider pollution vs important stuff.
In a world slap full of plastic, such organisms are simply like FOOD, NOM NOM!
Life finds a way...
I hear your point, I don't know who "we" is. I believe you and the prior commenter are missing the point of the article entirely. This is about harnessing nature for our benefit to fight plastic pollution. An extreme problem contributing to climate change and threatening all of our lives. You are both arguing a straw man to try to undermine the article which it seems you have missed the point of entirely. The idea that fighting plastic pollution means fungi will invade your home and destroy the plastics in your devices is not logical. This is in no way a Jurassic Park type of scenario and that logic is a bit absurd. Plastic pollution has colonized the earth. Fighting it with something harmless like nature isn't comparable.
Fungi spread. It's part of their behavior. If a fungi is bred to specifically feed on a particular type of plastic, it will do that, outside of waste treatment facilities and outside of human control. This is not a "straw man", it is a directly relevant concern. The fungi will not know the difference between plastic pollution and plastic that is keeping infrastructure from falling apart.
How did you reach this conclusion? Nature is anything but harmless, it's a meat grinder.
Oh no, we totally get the desired benefits, I'm pretty sure everyone does.
But this is getting a bit past pure nature, they're bioengineering these organisms to be even more effective at eating plastics and stuff much faster and more rapidly.
The question becomes, what happens when/if such organisms get out of control, in a world full of a basically new food source to them?
What happens when someone deploys these organisms maliciously, in a plastic manufacturing center or a Walmart or something?
This is a false dichotomy.
Not trying this particular option is not the same thing as not trying at all.
An organism with plentiful nutrients and no natural predators in an environment will proliferate as an invasive species. This is, in fact, worth considering as a Jurassic Park scenario.
These folks are not saying "we shouldn't do this because of the risks." They're saying "I hope those who would take this action attempt to understand and control those risks before an adverse affect like unnatural proliferation were to occur."
You can both be right.
That’s much more thoughtful and constructive than any other comment. Thank you. I absolutely agree that two things can be true at the same time and risks are worth considering. That was not the feedback I was receiving however. I do believe the primary and most important threat to be considered here is plastic pollution and the article proposes something to aid in combating it. Who is right shouldn’t be the foremost concern in a healthy discussion. We can adjust how we implement solutions, absolutely, but shooting them down entirely gets us nowhere.
PE, PVC, and PUR are exactly the types of plastics used in electrical insulation
Did you even read the article?
I posted it so that can be assumed and the question comes across as combative. My point still stands. I don't know what yours is.
PVC in a landfill is the same as PVC protecting wiring that is currently in use, or in plumbing. What exactly is going to prevent this fungus from spreading and destroying existing infrastructure?
Ill Wind (1995), by Kevin J. Anderson
My concern is the toxins propagating through the trophic chain. But it can't be worse than the alternative.
Now that I think of it, something that invalidates our oil dependency could just be what we need right now.