Microbial and Enzyme-Based Technology for Plastic Biodegradation

Improper disposal of plastics increases micro-plastic discharge and waste to the environment. It causes growing global concern about the environmental and public health impacts of related byproducts. This book presents a safe process based on application of microbial cultures from different sources for the degradation of plastic waste to harmless products. The book begins by introducing the problem of plastic waste and its environmental impact, then moves on to describing microbial resources and the mechanism of biodegradation before presenting examples of biodegradation processes. Challenges of the microbial and enzyme based technologies for plastic biodegradation and potential research directions are also discussed.