A fungus that can break down polyurethane plastic, underwater and without oxygen, was found in an Amazonian rainforest.

Pria Anand was a student in Yale University's class of 2010 whose passion for the environment made her want to make a difference. Anand wanted to find out if there was something in nature that could decompose plastic. She began experimenting with dozens of species of fungi from the Amazon, but she graduated before she could finish her work.

Jonathan Russell took over for Anand... One day, as he casually walked into the lab he says his eyes locked on the Petri dish containing his experiment: the plastic was gone. He'd found what they'd been looking for.

The Yale students had discovered that Pestalotiopsis microspora fungus can break down plastic.
...
Today, Russell is working on his Ph.D. in molecular biology at Harvard. He's encouraged that other students are taking an interest in environmental solutions.
"Growing up in a world where pollution is going to be a big issue in the future, coming up with creative ways to tackle it, gets me excited," Russell says. "I only hope that more people will take this on and get interested in it in the future."