Nature's Cleanup Crew Enzymes

Plastic pollution, a major environmental threat, demands sustainable solutions beyond incineration and landfilling.

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Recent research highlights the role of microbes and enzymes in biodegrading plastics into harmless compounds. Over 90 microorganisms, including fungi and bacteria, produce enzymes that break chemical bonds, enabling eco-friendly plastic recycling. Breakthroughs such as Ideonella sakaiensis degrading PET, plastic-eating larvae, and fungi targeting polyurethane demonstrate this potential. Real-world applications, from Carbios' enzymatic recycling in France to Eastman Chemical's innovations in the US, showcase progress. Though challenges remain in scaling efficiency and costs, enzyme-driven plastic degradation offers a promising path towards circular economy and cleaner ecosystems.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme, plastic is an artificial carbon-based polymer derived from fossil fuels like natural gas and oil. Each year, more than 460 million metric tonnes of plastic are manufactured. Plastic is utilized in nearly all consumer and industrial sectors, from construction and automobiles to electronics and farming. If it is not disposed of properly, plastic waste contaminates and damages the environment and becomes a significant factor in biodiversity loss and ecosystem deterioration. It risks human health, impacts food and water security, hampers economic activities, and exacerbates climate change. Various methods were employed to solve this issue, such as incineration, landfill, and dumping into the ocean, but it resulted in secondary environmental pollution.

Therefore, researchers are searching for sustainable methods for plastic degradation, and biodegrading can be a sustainable means of dealing with plastic pollution. Recently, plastic- degrading microbes have been discovered; more than 90 microorganisms can degrade petroleum based plastics. This includes many microorganisms like fungi and bacteria (Dhanraj et al., 2022; Han et al., 2024).