A plastic particle (red) is colonised by the marine fungus Parengyodontium album
Annika Vaksmaa/NIOZ
A fungus found on litter floating in the North Pacific Ocean can break down the most abundant type of plastic that ends up in the sea.
In lab experiments, Annika Vaksmaa at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research and her colleagues have shown that the white, thread-like fungus can successfully degrade one of the most pernicious plastics, polyethylene, providing the plastic has first been exposed to UV radiation, such as from sunlight.
