Microbial Degradation of Plastic- a Brief Review

Synthetic polymers are widely used both in food or commercial industry. Plastic, one of its products is known to be expanding with changing lifestyles and increasing population. However, it causes deleterious effects on the environment due to its non degrading nature. Burning of this plastic waste and burying of the plastics releases harmful toxic material which is a major pollutant in environment. Also, there is an undesirable influence on the environment and it is known to be cause problems with waste deposition and utilization. The most commonly used non-degradable solid waste is polythene which is a linear hydrocarbon polymers consisting of long chains of the ethylene monomers. Thus, there is a tendency to substitute such polymers with polymers that undergo biodegradable processes. Biodegradable plastics are environment friendly; they have an expanding range of potential application and are driven by the growing use of plastics in packaging. This review describes biodegradation processes and its mechanisms, the microorganisms which involved the reactions of importance in the biodegradation of plastics.