A team of researchers in Europe have created a prototype device called The Fungi Mutarium which uses fungi to safely break down plastic and replace it with edible mushrooms.
The research team is comprised of two Vienna-based industrial designers and a number of researchers at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands.
The device that they created harnesses the natural cleaning and purifying power of fungi, and creates a condition where the fungi can easily break down and absorb the trash, replacing it with more fungi.
The device has been described by some as a dome shaped incubator, which contains several pods that hold liquefied fungi sprouts. Thin strips of plastic are placed into the device, and after several weeks, there is no longer any trace of plastic.
