Backyard Fungi Found to Break Down Plastic in Record Time

Australian scientists have discovered that two types of fungi found in plants and soil can break down polypropylene, one of the world's most stubborn plastics, which could help ease the burden of the global recycling crisis. The fungi took 90 days to degrade 27% of the plastic tested, and about 140 days to completely break it down. The technology could be scaled up to process thousands of tonnes of plastic a year, but experts caution that plastic use needs to be drastically reduced too.