Packet of Fungi Inside New Diapers Breaks Them Down in Landfill Turning it to Mycelium

[Ghoti Ichthus]

Packet of Fungi Inside New Diapers Breaks Them Down in Landfill Turning it to Mycelium​

By Andy Corbley
May 14, 2025

"Recent discoveries in microbial digestion of plastic have finally left the lab and entered the real world in the form of HIRO diapers, the world’s first diaper manufactured to be eaten by fungi.
Every year, over 18 billion diapers are discarded into US landfills—and if they aren’t manufactured with natural cellulose, then they’re going to be there for 500 years, leaking microplastics and chemicals into the soil.
With that unfortunate truth out of the way, dig this dirty great news: a pair of serial entrepreneurs have developed diapers designed to be broken down into soil by fungi, and they’re practically flying off the shelves.
Each HIRO MycoDigestible Diaper comes with a small packet of shelf-stable, plastic-eating fungi. Parents simply throw the packet away with the used diaper—no extra steps required.
Once the diaper reaches a landfill, the fungi activate in the presence of moisture and begin to break down the diaper’s materials from the inside out. These fungi secrete enzymes that target and sever the carbon bonds in plastic, transforming the waste into mycelium and nutrient-rich soil over time."

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Packet of Fungi Inside New Diapers Breaks Them Down in Landfill Turning it to Mycelium

While plastic-eating fungi were first discovered by scientists over a decade ago, their potential has remained locked in labs—until now

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