mushrooms oyster - photo credit Jorg Hempel -CC licenseDisposable diapers are one of the biggest contributors to overflowing landfills, piling up at a rate of 1 ton of trash per kid per year. And the worst part is the time it takes for disposable diapers to break down — 500 years.

But now, a scientist named Alethia Vázquez-Morillas from the Autonomous Metropolitan University in Mexico City has found a way to turn that 500-year span to a mere 4 months, by using oyster mushrooms to accelerate the breakdown.

(READ the story in Inhabitots.com via the Economist)

Photo credit: Jörg Hempel – Creative Commons

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