Biodegradation of plastics: A state of the art review

Abstract

Plastics are unquestionably superior materials in terms of their costs, process ability and functional properties. Human lives starts with the use of plastics and more and more plastics are being employed on daily basis. Since polymeric materials do not decompose easily, considering their abundance in the environment, accumulation of plastics in landfill and ocean has been increasing from decades. Most of the plastics waste enters into water which is consumed by sea creatures destroy their habitat. To overcome the problem researchers have researched about the biodegradation of plastics by the degradable enzymes. This review is about biodegradable plastics and the microorganisms which help in degrading the synthetic and natural plastics. Industries have started manufacturing biodegradable plastics using additives like prooxidant and starch etc. Micro-organisms show rapid action on thermoset plastics like polyester polyurethane and some organisms have been segregated or isolated to utilize polyurethane as a sole source of carbon and nitrogen. This review is an attempt to understand the recent development in biodegradation of plastics by enzymes to reduce the impacts of plastic and make the environment safe.