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."

More

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

www.goodnewsnetwork.org

 

[Baby Yoda]

amazing!

 

[Tall Timbers]

I guess the billion or so diapers I changed when my kids were starting out will all be in the landfill for a little while longer.

 

[mattfivefour]

I guess the billion or so diapers I changed when my kids were starting out will all be in the landfill for a little while longer.

Yours weren't cloth???

 

[Tall Timbers]

Yours weren't cloth???

Mine were. With my kids we started out with cloth but my wife couldn't properly pin them on and neither could I so we surrendered and used disposables.

 

[Ghoti Ichthus]

They have self-cleaning ovens, so why aren't there self-cleaning diapers?

 

[Andy C]

Mine were. With my kids we started out with cloth but my wife couldn't properly pin them on and neither could I so we surrendered and used disposables.

The thought of using cloth diapers turns my stomach. Im one who does not get grossed out very easily, as I could tell a story about a clogged toilet plumbing in our RV, and what steps I had to take to unclog it. Gagged a few times, but never lost it.

 

[Andy C]

The cost for now to use this new product is approx 140 a month. I remember back in the day, when it was barely affordable for us to buy diapers, any extra cost would have not been doable.

 

[Ghoti Ichthus]

I'm the oldest in my family, so I remember the diaper pail with the soap and bleach and the pre-agitation/wash of those with #2 in the toilet

 

[Andy C]

I'm the oldest in my family, so I remember the diaper pail with the soap and bleach and the pre-agitation/wash of those with #2 in the toilet

 

[Ghoti Ichthus]

The cost for now to use this new product is approx 140 a month. I remember back in the day, when it was barely affordable for us to buy diapers, any extra cost would have not been doable.

I suspect (and hope) cost will come down as more manufacturers offer something similar.

Regular disposables aren't cheap, either. It's almost cost-effective to use a diaper service in places where there's competing diaper services and garbage rates are higher for larger residential carts.

 

[Cheeky200386]

I bought cloth diapers to use with my first. The first day of sleep deprivation and I went and got disposable. There was no way I was doing extra laundry and taking time to clean off poop. Too exhausted. I never ended up using cloth diapers.

Peter is potty trained during the day and Elizabeth will be 3 next year when we hope to start training her.

I’m looking forward to being done with diapers in the next year or two.

 

[LydiaJoy]

I’ve been hearing about infant potty training called Elimination Communication, It just makes me wonder if the whole learning process is being dragged out by years in order to increase profits for the disposal diaper companies.

Elimination communication: How infant potty training works

Find out how elimination communication (infant potty training) works, and why you might want to give it a try.

www.babycenter.com

Can you start potty training when your baby's a newborn? Fans of elimination communication (EC) say yes – and that by getting a head start, your child can be potty trained by 18 months old.

Elimination communication (EC), also known as infant potty training, is the practice of introducing your baby to the toilet or potty at a very early age – usually between birth and 4 months old.

 

[mattfivefour]

Interesting.