What is growing inside plastic?

[Philip Koeck]

TL;DR Summary

I've found something growing apparently inside plastic.

I've found something growing apparently inside plastic (microwave-proof Tupperware).
Two photos are appended, a bit fuzzy, I'm afraid.
The whole structure is about 2 cm long and the close-up (lowest part of the overview) shows a part that's about 5 mm in diameter.
I wasn't able to scratch it off with my finger nail, so it appears to be underneath a thin layer of plastic.
Does anybody know what it could be?

 

[256bits]

First picture looks like a flattened frog on the parking lot.
And the second like a hairy salamander that is adapting to winter weather in the most peculiar way.Seriously.
A fungus that is growing on the moisture and organics that have seeped into a crack and separation of plastic layers too small to see with the naked eye.

 

[jim mcnamara]

The white virtually indestructible white plastic containers that bleach comes in are broken down and used for energy by:

Ideonella:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideonella_sakaiensis

The point is that there are microorganisms that were very rare that now have become common, "eating" plastic.

I do not know what is in your photos, but there are lots of things that are adapting to the use of plastic as a food source. Some of the byproducts appear to be unpleasant.

See links to 14 microorganisms that use plastic as a carbon source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Organisms_breaking_down_plastic

 

[256bits]

The white virtually indestructible white plastic containers that bleach comes in are broken down and used for energy by:

Ideonella:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideonella_sakaiensis

The point is that there are microorganisms that were very rare that now have become common, "eating" plastic.

I do not know what is in your photos, but there are lots of things that are adapting to the use of plastic as a food source. Some of the byproducts appear to be unpleasant.

See links to 14 microorganisms that use plastic as a carbon source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Organisms_breaking_down_plastic

So how prevalent would those organisms be in a household?
Seems of the bacteria and fungus were found and identified from samples collected from sediment and wetlands.
Aspergillus tubingensis
appears to one of the more widespread organisms.

 

[Twigg]

I know that when artsy folks try to make epoxy resin casts around leaves or other organic materials, they end up growing mold. It looks a lot like what you have.

I'm never eating out of plastic tupperware again. Thanks for that

 

[jim mcnamara]

PET (polyethylene terephthalate); example clear hard food grade plastic delicatessen take out containers:

Ideonella has an enzyme that specifically attacks PET. Anyway it is now found in older landfills that have been covered over. And forgotten - maybe not so much if you live next to one.

The enzyme is undergoing tests, I believe, to help attack the mountains of plastic waste.
Put out enough food, wait awhile, and something will adapt itself to making a menu item and make lunch out of it.

We are included on the parasite menu - Per Paul Offit, Director of the Vaccine Education Center and professor of pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia:

'Mother Nature has been trying very hard to eradicate us since day one.'

 

[Laroxe]

You have to consider that most plastics are made from oil, and that is organic. While oil has already been the object of the attention of various micro-organisms, it continues to break down when exposed, most oil spills are cleaned up by nature. Like oil, plastics are subject to a variety of processes that breaks them down, it just takes a while, some chemical processes are quicker for example UV light.
However, the very durability of plastics mean they provide an ideal home for all sorts of things, just picking up some plastic on a beach can show the variety of creatures that can call it home, even plastics in the sea become a little oasis of life. Many microorganisms like to have a surface to attach to and they can thrive with a little water, some air and a little organic matter. These biofilms can grow just about anywhere, our teeth are covered with them.
Just wash it and let it dry, no food, no water, that makes it difficult, but some of the little buggers have survived quite well in containers on the outside of the space station, if nothing else, life is persistent.