Osama Asanousi Lamma, Faizi Tawati Abdulnaser and Ahmed Ayad Alfaytouri Saeid

Background: Environmental threats from the accumulation of plastic trash are getting worse. Because of the expanding usage of plastics in packaging, biodegradable polymers can be viewed as environmentally beneficial and have a wide range of possible applications.

Aim and Objective: The current study is to determine the screening of plastic degrading bacteria from dumped soil area.

Problem of study:

Plastic has become one of the most pressing environmental issues that we are facing today. India is generating about 3.5 million tons of plastic waste annually and the per capita plastic waste generation has almost doubled over the last five years.

Methodology: This study used the liquid culture technique to examine the biodegradation of polythene bags after a month of incubation. Total heterotrophic bacterial counts in the degrading materials reached up to 0.0275 109 per gram.

Duration of study: Started of work September 2020 up to September 2021.

Results: The microbial species found associated with the degrading materials were identified as two Gram positive and five Gram negative bacteria. The microbial species associated with the polythene materials were identified as Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus amylolyticus, Arthobacter defluvii. The efficacy of microbes in the degradation of plastics were analyzed in liquid (shaker) culture method, among the bacteria Bacillus amylolyticus degrades plastic more in 1 month (50% weight loss/month) period compared to others and lowest degradation rate was observed in case of Bacillus subtilis (20% weight loss/month).

Conclusion: This work reveals that Bacillus amylolyticus posses greater potential to degrade plastics when compared with other bacteria.

Therefore, there remains an urgent need to conduct further studies in order to isolate and study plastic-degrading microorganisms. Additionally, the impact of plastic pollution on both environmental and human health should encourage the general public to transition from plastic products to more eco-friendly options.

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