This Black Fungus Turns Plastic Waste Into Edible Ingredients

Fungi might just be the most impressive form of life on Earth. They can live almost anywhere, have both medicinal and poisonous qualities, and are—as new research suggests—capable of transforming industrial waste into useful compounds.

Engineers with the German startup Biophelion have successfully developed a method to coax a yeast-like black fungus— Aureobasidium pullulans —into decomposing and converting plastic waste into new products. What’s more, during this process, the fungus consumes leftover carbon dioxide in plastic waste, using it to fuel itself and prevent the greenhouse gas from escaping into the atmosphere.

The project emerged as a part of the “Circular Biomanufacturing Challenge” organized by Germany’s Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovations SPRIND.

Fungal magic