Approaches to Enhance the Biodegradation of Polyolefins

Abstract

Accumulation of non-biodegradable plastics leads to increase in land and water pollution. Polyolefins includ- ing polyethylene and polypropylene are the major plastics to be dumped in the environment and due to their recalcitrant nature persist in the environment. The hydrophobicity, high molecular weight, chemical and structural composition of these polymers hinders their biodegradation. In this review current research that have been performed to understand the abiotic mechanism of the degradation process, and various physical, chemical and biochemical approaches that can be adopted to enhance their biodegradation are discussed. Genetic engineering approaches to enhance the performance of the microorganism or computational techniques to simulate the degradation pathways could be the future to speed up the degradation of these polymers.