--- title: "Scientists Find Plastic-Eating Fungus Feasting on Great Pacific Garbage Patch" description: "Marine scientists discovered an ocean-borne fungus chomping through plastic trash in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch." date: "2024-06-04" modified: "2024-06-04" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/plastic-eating-fungus-pacific-garbage-patch" categories: - "Science & Energy" tags: - "fungus" - "great pacific garbage patch" - "ocean plastic" - "the digest" --- # Scientists Find Plastic-Eating Fungus Feasting on Great Pacific Garbage Patch ![Marine scientists discovered an ocean-borne fungus chomping through plastic trash in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Chomp Chomp Does nature have to do *everything* itself? An international cohort of marine scientists discovered an ocean-borne fungus chomping through plastic trash suspended in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, as detailed in a [new study]() published in the journal *Science of the Total Environment*. Dubbed *Parengyodontium album*, the fungus was discovered among the thin layers of other microbes that live in and around the floating plastic pile in the North Pacific. According to the study, it's the fourth known marine fungus capable of consuming and breaking down plastic waste. Researchers found that *P. album* was specifically able to break down UV-exposed carbon-based polyethylene, which is the type of plastic most commonly used to make consumer products, like water bottles and grocery bags — and the most pervasive form of plastic waste that pollutes Earth's oceans. "It was already known that UV light breaks down plastic by itself mechanically," said study lead author Annika Vaksmaa, a marine biologist and biogeochemist at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), [in a statement](), "but our results show that it also facilitates the biological plastic breakdown by marine fungi." ## Don't Get Carried Away Before you get ahead of yourself: no, this discovery doesn't mean that you should start consuming single-use plastics with abandon. Our oceans are overrun with destructive plastic pollutants, and refraining from plastic use as much as possible is still our best bet at keeping plastic from plugging up the Earth's vital — though fragile — oceans with animal- and environment-harming garbage. Mitigating and removing the plastic that's already clogging Earth's waterways is still an important goal. But doing so unfortunately [isn't quite as simple]() as scooping it out of the ocean en masse. Trawling for plastic with large nets can [disturb marine life](), and efforts to do so are costly and often wasteful themselves. So in the fight to find a way to reduce ocean plastic, finding a new fungus capable of speeding up the plastic degradation process is an exciting new turn. But it's not a cure-all. According to the research, lab-grown *P. album* was observed to break down a given piece of UV-treated plastic at a rate of roughly 0.05 percent per day for every nine-day period. Which isn't nothing, but it'd take a very long time for the bacteria to get through the entirety of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, let alone the [millions of metric tons]() of plastics that enter the ocean every year. Regardless, the *P. album* finding is heartening — and according to the researchers, this latest discovery suggests that more [plastic-eating organisms]() might be out there. "Marine fungi can break down complex materials made of carbon," added Vaksmaa, adding that it's "likely that in addition to the four species identified so far, other species also contribute to plastic degradation." **More on plastic-hungry microbes:** [*Scientists Gene-Hack Bacteria to Turn Waste Plastic Into Kevlar-Like Spider Silk*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()