Degradation of Plastic Materials Using Microorganisms: A Review.
Plastics are ubiquitous in modern life and their early uses date again to 1600 B.C. The exploitation of plastics started in 1839 with the discovery of vulcanized rubber and polystyrene. The international utility of plastics is expanding at a rate of 12% per annum and approximately 140 million tons of synthetic polymers are produced globally each year. Plastics commodities are utilized in fishing nets, packaging, food industry, and the agricultural sector.
Plastics are very useful in our day-to-day life to meet our desired needs. Due to its good quality, its use is increasing day by day and its degradation is becoming a great threat. Studying the synergism between those microorganisms will give an insight for future efforts toward the biodegradation of plastic materials.
Various plastic-degrading methods are available, but the cheapest, eco-friendly, acceptable method is degradation using microbes. Utilization of molecular techniques to detect specific groups of microorganisms involved in the degradation process will allow a better understanding of the organization of the microbial community involved in the attack of materials.
The primary mechanism for the biodegradation of high-molecular weight polymer is the oxidation or hydrolysis by an enzyme to create functional groups that improve the hydrophobicity. Physical
properties such as crystallinity, orientation, and morphological properties such as surface area, affect the rate of degradation.
The product of PHB hydrolysis is R-3-hydroxybutyric acid, while extracellular degradation of PHBV yields both 3-hydroxybutyrate and 3-hydroxy valerate. In general, no harmful intermediates or by-products are generated during PHA degradation. In fact, 3-hydroxybutyrate is found in all higher animals as blood plasma.
Public Health Open J. 2019; 4(2): 57-63. doi: 10.17140/PHOJ-4-136