Both polyurethane and styrofoam are not biodegradable, so without a solution, all the plastic bottles and old toys we throw out every year will be sitting in landfills for centuries. The Yale students had discovered that Pestalotiopsis microspora fungus can break down plastic. Pestalotiopsis microspora is a species of endophytic fungus capable of breaking down and digesting polyurethane.The fungi, Pestalotiopsis microspora, is the first anyone has found to survive on a steady diet of polyurethane alone and--even more surprising--do this in an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment that is close to the condition at the bottom of a landfill. Pestalotiopsis microspora, found in the jungles of Ecuador.
