Newscasts - Texas startup sells plastic-eating fungi diapers to tackle landfill waste

Hero Technologies

16/06/2025 20:11

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Source: 'Reuters - General news videos'

Description: Could baby poop and fungi work together to tackle landfill waste? That’s the idea behind a new product launched by an Austin, Texas, startup that sells disposable diapers paired with fungi intended to break down the plastic. Alice Rizzo reports.

Short Link: https://refini.tv/4n480yL

Video Transcript:

>> Could baby poop and fungi team up to tackle landfill waste? That's the idea behind a new biodegradable diaper renovation. >> This end product is just digested plastics and essentially earth. >> The Texas based startup, Hiro Technologies has launched a new product, pairing disposable diapers with fungi intended to break down plastic. At the company's Austin office, co-founder Miki Agrawal explains how the MycoDigestible Diaper works. >> Inside this little pouch, are little friendly fungi that are sleeping inside. And when the baby poops her peas, you just literally take off the diaper, you drop the whole pouch in. You don't have to open it, you drop the whole thing, and you close it and you throw it away in the trash like normal. And in a couple of weeks, these little friendly fungi will be fertilized by our baby's pooper pea and it'll start growing and then start eating the diaper, which is cool, and then eventually it'll break down. >> These organisms, which include mushrooms, molds, yeast, and mildew, derive nutrients from decomposing mostly dead organic matter. Hiro technologies co-founder, Tero Isokauppila says there are over 100 species of fungi known to break down plastics. >> Here we have our Hiro Technology with a full-size diaper in a jar. And as you can see, it's already started to take over the diaper and almost fully emerge it. And here we have the same thing after six months, so you can see that it's taking over even much more. Here we're seeing the diaper being digested, but you can see that the piece of the diaper sometimes referred to as the ear with the Velcro piece is usually one of the last parts to get digested. >> By nine months, the product has turned into black soil. >> Essentially, all plastic is made out of fossil fuels. A fossil fuels is dead trees and animals. And many moons ago, fungi evolved to break down trees, especially this hard to break down compound in trees called lignin, which is carbon backbone is very similar to the carbon backbone of plastics, because essentially, they're made out of the same thing. >> While the initial results are promising, the company says it still needs to study how the diaper decomposes in real-world conditions. Looking ahead, they plan to expand the use of plastic-eating fungi to other waste heavy products like adult diapers and feminine care items.