Comments on: Plastic-Eating Fungi: Environmental Salvation or Distraction?

By: BethTerry

BethTerry — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 03:26:32 +0000

@clkk411 HI. I gave a talk at the Zero Waste Youth Convergence on Sunday, but that’s all I have time to do. Will you be here?

By: clkk411

clkk411 — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 17:11:33 +0000

Hi Beth, Excellent as usual. Are you attending the CRRA event in SF next week?

By: architroid

architroid — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 00:41:55 +0000

I’m concerned that any organism that can digest polymers will also excrete methane, CO2 or some other form of carbon into the atmosphere. The potential volume may be trivial compared to the greenhouse gases produced by energy production, but it’s something to be considered. There’s no such thing as a free lunch… even for fungi.

By: somtimegreenmom

somtimegreenmom — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 14:32:51 +0000

People have become too used to the disposable plastic life style-I hope that this attitude changes before we literally drown in plastic soup!

By: On My Mind: 06.04.12

On My Mind: 06.04.12 — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 11:04:20 +0000

[...] My Plastic-free Life, Beth Terry asks whether plastic-eating fungi are an environmental salvation — or a distraction. She writes: We need to keep in mind that composting is simply a method of waste management. It’s [...]

By: DeeAnnSchuttish

DeeAnnSchuttish — Wed, 30 May 2012 04:52:56 +0000

And polyethylene is not that bacteria’s preferred food, so plastic is not what the bacteria will be eating 99% of the time. – Green Life Studios

By: KATIA EMI

KATIA EMI — Fri, 25 May 2012 13:58:10 +0000

Even the rivers and seas have the power to clean itself but not at the rate we pollute it. Now imagine the ammount of plastics we use and how many funghi will be needed to digest it! There´s a balance that should be respected.

By: Reenie

Reenie — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:05:21 +0000

We all know that there’s a cost for everything. An exchange. Those that created the plastic world we inherited may or may not have considered that. Until those who are in the business of inventing and selling products for mankind are motivated by higher reasons than profit, we are doomed (perhaps) to repeat discoveries that what we thought was safe for life isn’t. Chessplayers think many moves in advance. We need to insist that innovators do that as well. This fungus could start as a blessing and end up as a curse, as others have mentioned. In the natural world problems and solutions live side by side. I just don’t know about the plastic world.

By: My Plastic-free Life

My Plastic-free Life — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:19:11 +0000

Hi Suzie. I’m guessing fungi from the Amazon probably wouldn’t survive in the marine environment. Plus, we don’t know what their impact would be on that delicate ecosystem.

By: Caley Concannon

Caley Concannon — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:19:08 +0000

Great points, thanks for sharing