The cultivation of Pleurotus florida mushroom on agricultural wastes to reduce the weight of plastic waste

The necessity to accelerate the biodegradation strategy to transition to a sustainable plastic waste management approach is growing as environmental plastic waste accumulation accelerates. In the present study, Pleurotus florida (P. florida) was cultivated using agricultural waste like rice straw mixed with P. florida spawn. Following culture, a sample of mushroom tissue was added to cooled PDA medium on petri dishes, which were subsequently incubated at 25°C. In parallel, low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plastic bag fragments with dimensions of 3 cm × 1 cm were exposed to sunlight. Following this time, 50 ml of Dox´s media was inoculated with 2 ml of P. florida mycelia suspension and sunlight-exposed LDPE fragments. The effects of carbon concentrations, inoculum doses, temperature, pH, and Tween 80 additives on the weight loss of sunlight-exposed LDPE fragments were studied. Scanning electron microscopy indicated that the LDPE fragment's surface morphology altered after inoculating P. florida mycelia. FTIR analysis was newly formed functional groups in the LDPE structure. The weight loss percentage increased with an increase in sucrose concentration and the inoculum dose while decreasing with an increase in temperature, pH, and Tween 80 additives. Also, the colonization of sunlight-exposed LDPE by P. florida decreased the tensile strength of the LDPE fragment. These findings confirm that the exposure of LDPE to sunlight facilitated the ability of P. florida mycelia to enhance the weight loss percentage of LDPE fragments.