MYCO-ACTIVE BIODEGRADABLE GARBAGE BAG

SAC A DECHET BIODEGRADABLE MYCO-ACTIF

English 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.

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.

Description

CA 02894888 2015-06-22
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.

Representative Drawing