Emerging Biodegradation Technologies for Sustainable Plastic Waste Management

The extensive use of synthetic polymers has caused some of the most critical as well as complicated environmental issues of the 21st century. One of the major issues among them is rapid accumulation of plastic waste. Traditional methods for waste disposal like landfilling, incineration and ocean dumping are held responsible for causing several severe ecological and public health risks. The traditional methods also failed as a long-term and sustainable solution for plastic waste. In recent years, certain modern approaches like microbial and enzymatic biodegradation have shown greater efficiency in curbing issues linked to plastic waste management. Microbial biodegradation emphasizes on breaking of complex polymer chains into simpler monomers through the action of enzymes. These plastic-based compounds are utilized as carbon and energy sources by microbes. Advances in biotechnology, environmental microbiology, synthetic biology, genetic engineering and enzyme technology have enhanced the efficiency of microbes and enzymes involved in plastic degradation. PETase and MHETase are the enzymes that have previously shown capability to degrade one of the most used plastics i.e., polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The technical advancements such as molecular engineering, microbial consortia designing and CRISPR-based genome editing strategies such as PlastiCRISPR are becoming vital for developing engineered and modified microbial strains and systems that show optimized and enhanced capabilities for plastic degradation and formation of useful biochemical residues. This review aims to emphasise on greater environmental and economic causes through the application of scientific temperament. It provides an overview on plastic pollution, limitations of traditional waste management approaches and advancing biodegradation technologies. Detailed emphasis is placed on microbial biodegradation mechanisms, enzymatic degradation pathways, and advanced biotechnological methods that can help tackle plastic waste problems and convert them into other useful by-products, cycling into the circular economy.

Plastics, enzymes, biodegradation, genetic engineering

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