CA2894888A1

CA2894888A1 - Myco-active biodegradable garbage bag

Info

Publication number: CA2894888A1
Application number: CA2894888A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Leah A. Perry
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2015-06-22
Filing date: 2015-06-22
Publication date: 2016-12-22

Abstract

In any household in North America you will find garbage bags, and into these garbage bags, kitchen catchers, or re-used grocery bags go household waste, which includes plastic packaging, food wrappings, Ziploc bags, saran wrap, other plastic bags, and every manner of random plastic trash that is not acceptable in established recycling programs. All of this plastic waste goes into the trash, and then into landfills. In this invention, a biodegradable plastic bag which features an inner lining containing a myco-active agent can be used in order to help break down this refuse. This agent is defined as the spores of mushrooms able to decompose plastics. When the biodegradable bag is filled the myco-active agent will spawn and bloom, using the plastic as food. The mushrooms with thereby eat/decompose the plastic inside the bag, before the bag itself biodegrades at the landfill.

Description

Specification The invention of a myco-active biodegradable garbage bag is to be used for the decomposition of household plastic waste that collects daily and in abundance in millions of homes across North America. This is to be done by using a cellulose-based biodegradable plastic bag that contains an inner lining that encases a myco-active agent. This agent is a mix of mushroom spores capable of decomposing traditional plastic waste. The mushrooms capable of decomposing plastic include Pestalotiopsis Microspora, Schizophyllum Commune and Pleurotus Ostreatus. The invention is comprised of two layers, a durable outer layer as well as an inner lining with a faster rate of decomposition. Both layers are biodegradable, but the inner lining will degrade substantially faster, in order to release the spores encased in the cellulose-based lining. While the garbage bag is being used and filled in the course of a day or two inside the home both biodegradable layers remain intact. The bag, once full, is removed from the household to sit in a collection bin or dumpster with other bags of waste until pickup.
After this progression of time the inner lining will begin to dissolve thereby releasing the mushroom spores. The collection bin or dumpster acts as incubator allowing the spores to spawn, creating strings of mycelia that literally eat the plastic garbage. The outer layer, being more durable will begin to decompose only after the garbage bag has left the household and is making its way to the dump. By the time the bins have been collected and the garbage piled up in heaps, the mushroom spores will have been widely distributed amongst the mounds in the landfill, mixing thoroughly on the journey to the dump. Because many bags will be used in many different homes and many different cities there exists the potential that the mushrooms will be capable of not only decomposing plastic household waste on an individual basis, bag by bag, but by possibly reaching further to begin to break down existing waste sitting in the landfills all across the planet. Each time another myco-active biodegradable garbage bag is added to a heap somewhere, there is the chance that the mushrooms, having eaten the plastic contained in a single bag, will bloom and create a fruit-body which will release more spores as it matures. With more spores, come more plastic eating spawn, which can hopefully cause the proliferation of a mycelial network that starts to decompose the immense amounts of plastic collecting indefinitely in the environment.

Claims

Claims I claim:

1. A biodegradable plastic garbage bag made of cellulose-based material containing a myco-active agent, or containing a biodegradable cellulose-based lining that has a myco-active agent encased within it.

2. The myco-active agent of claim 1 wherein the agent is composed of mushroom spores or spawn capable of eating plastic waste, including Pestalotiopsis Microspora, Schizophyllum Commune and Pleurotus Ostreatus.

3. The biodegradable plastic garbage bag of claim 1 wherein the myco-active agent is encased in a biodegradable cellulose-based inner lining.

4. The inner lining of claim 3 wherein the decomposition rate is greater than that of the outer bag to control the release of the myco-active agent.

5. The biodegradable plastic garbage bag of claim 1 wherein the outer layer is durable enough to sustain the collection of household waste.