Hiro Technologies (pronounced “hero”) officially launches the world’s first MycoDigestible Diapers (means “digested by fungi”), a first-of-its-kind product designed to break down in a landfill thanks to fungi-powered decomposition technology. Co-founded by serial entrepreneurs Miki Agrawal (Thinx, Tushy) and Tero Isokauppila (Four Sigmatic), Hiro’s launch marks the debut of an entirely new category of sustainability—a natural end-of-life solution for plastic waste, beginning with the one item parents can’t live without.

Every year, over 18 billion diapers are discarded into U.S. landfills—each one destined to sit for 500 years, leaking microplastics and chemicals into soil and water. Globally, the plastic crisis has spiraled out of control, with 430 million tons of plastic waste generated annually and less than 10% of it recycled. While governments stall and corporations greenwash, the problem grows deeper—and dirtier. But a new company is offering a radically hopeful path forward, powered by the planet’s oldest clean-up crew: fungi.

“Diapers are the number one source of household plastic waste and the third largest contributor to landfills overall,” says Agrawal. “Each baby goes through ~5000 diapers. The very first disposable diaper ever made? It’s still in a landfill today. We knew there had to be a better way.”

Each 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. Traditional landfill conditions are typically too dry, oxygen-poor, or contaminated for decomposition to occur naturally, but Hiro’s innovation brings its own biological degradation system directly into the waste stream—no industrial composting or special infrastructure required.

In parallel, Hiro is working with waste facilities and landfill operators to embed fungi more broadly across their systems, with a long-term goal of creating an ecosystem where fungi can help accelerate the breakdown of other plastic waste at scale.

While plastic-eating fungi were first discovered by scientists over a decade ago, their potential has remained locked in labs—until now. Hiro has pioneered a commercial, shelf-stable fungi technology that targets plastic at a molecular level, breaking it down into soil and mycelium (the root system of mushrooms) without harmful emissions or energy-intensive processes. This patented, award-winning innovation won the 2024 Hygienix Innovation Award, the highest honor in the nonwoven industry.

“It’s literally in mushrooms’ DNA to break down complex carbon materials,” explains Isokauppila. “They already break down lignin which has a similar carbon backbone to plastics. We’ve simply re-trained them to do what they already kind of knew how to do.”

“We’re not waiting for policy to catch up. We’re not waiting for corporations to change on their own,” says Agrawal. “We’re doing it now. With our hands in the dirt, and fungi as our partner.”

While diapers are Hiro’s first product, they’re just the beginning. The company’s long-term vision is to become a global supplier of plastic-eating fungi, partnering with manufacturers, brands, and waste management companies to address plastic pollution at scale. Hiro is actively building an international fungi-powered infrastructure—designed to serve the industries most in need of viable, sustainable disposal methods.

“In the absence of effective recycling, we’ve built a circular, scalable alternative,” says Isokauppila. “We believe the end of plastic begins with mushrooms—and with Hiro.”