this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2024
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I've seen this every year for a decade still not a thing
Plastic is also such an unspecific term. In regards to biodegradability there is no reason why PE, PP, PVC, PLA, PS and all the others should behave similiarly. Aside from some form of polymerization they are entirely different chemicals.
It would actually be scary to me if an organism evolves to rapidly eat all plastic. Imagine plastic rust... ugh, its just a terrifying idea. You think mantianing a car is difficult now, wait until you have to check the integrity of any "plastic" component
Wood didn't rot in the carboniferous era. It used to build up in dense layers that became our modern coal veins.
At some point microorganisms evolved to exploit that vast resource. Now coal can no longer generate naturally and we have to keep wood structures dry or painted lest they be reclaimed by the Eafth.
I don't know if there's any reason it couldn't happen to plastics. We've created the niche already, how long until something exploits it?
Rust is not caused by a living organism but fine. There's another good solution: don't use plastic. Also, we don't need personal cars
Yeah it just destroy the purpose of plastic
Well there is a simple remedy, and it is the same like for rust. Keep it dry. All microbial live needs water just as much as larger liveforms. If it is dry it can't spoil, even if there is microorganisms on it. They might be alive, but they'll be in stasis without sufficent accessible water. accessibility is also important here. E.g. salty water or water with high amounts of sugar are not useful to most microorganisms.
We all know how easy it is to keep a car dry in the PNW.
Bro rust isnt the issue up there its damn moss growing on your car. If it sits too long (or even if it doesn) shit starts looking like treebeard.
And the pine needles. So many pine needles. Every little crevice and hole on your car, stuffed to the brim with pine needles.
Well it’s a similar thing with “A cure for Cancer”. A cure for WHICH cancer? There are dozens of them…
Quality research is slow my dude.
and sensationalist journalism of preliminary research is faster than light
Journalists breaking the law!
The trick is that the mushroom would still rather eat literally anything else. So you'd have to gather a pile of only that specific plastic to break down, and now you have the initial problems of why we don't recycle in the first place: 💰
Also because plastic recycling was always a lie, only some types and in Ideal conditions can be recycled