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New perspectives in plastic biodegradation

Article in Current Opinion in Biotechnology · February 2011

DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2011.01.013 · Source: PubMed

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New perspectives in plastic biodegradation

Alex Sivan

During the past 50 years new plastic materials, in various plastic waste these synthetic polymers accumulate in the
applications, have gradually replaced the traditional metal, environment posing an ever increasing ecological threat
wood, leather materials. Ironically, the most preferred property to terrestrial and marine wild life [1,2].
of plastics – durability – exerts also the major environmental
threat. Recycling has practically failed to provide a safe solution Until a few years ago the environmental pollution by
for disposal of plastic waste (only 5% out of 1 trillion plastic plastic wastes had been considered merely as an aesthetic
bags, annually produced in the US alone, are being recycled). interference demonstrated by the plastics dispersion in
Since the most utilized plastic is polyethylene (PE; ca. 140 the wind and thereby pollute large terrestrial and marine
million tons/year), any reduction in the accumulation of PE environments. However, when plastic debris is exposed
waste alone would have a major impact on the overall reduction to u.v. irradiation from sunlight it undergoes photo oxi-
of the plastic waste in the environment.Since PE is considered dation. Consequently, the plastic deteriorates, lose its
to be practically inert, efforts were made to isolate unique tensile strength, becomes brittle and crumbles to small
microorganisms capable of utilizing synthetic polymers. fragments and particles called microplastics. This
Recent data showed that biodegradation of plastic waste with physical fragmentation of the polymer exhibits real degra-
selected microbial strains became a viable solution. dation in terms of molecular weight. One of the most
ubiquitous and long-lasting changes to the environment is
Address the accumulation polyethylene (PE), mulation of frag-
Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Ben Gurion University of the mented plastics. Within just a few decades, since mass
Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beer Sheva, Israel
production of plastic products has initiated, plastic debris
Corresponding author: Sivan, Alex ([email protected]) has accumulated in terrestrial and marine environments.
These microplastics can be ingested by various marine
animals that, by mistake, identify the microplastics as
Current Opinion in Biotechnology 2011, 22:422–426 plankton. Thus, the ingested plastic debris is likely to
This review comes from a themed issue on penetrate and accumulate in the food chain, exerting
Environmental biotechnology multiple hazards that their outcome still have to be
Edited by Lindsay Eltis and Ariel Kushmaro elucidated [3,4].
Available online 26th February 2011
Abiotic degradation of plastics may affect
0958-1669/$ – see front matter biodegradation
# 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Abiotic degradation includes the physical and/or chemical
processes that exerts intramolecular modifications in the
DOI 10.1016/j.copbio.2011.01.013
polymer. Biodegradable polymers are comprised of two
types: a) Polymers that are intrinsically biodegradable;
whose chemical structure enables direct enzymatic degra-
Introduction dation (e.g. starch, cellulose, chitin, etc.) and b) Polymers
The discovery of the chemical process for manufacturing that undergo photo oxidation or thermo oxidation upon
synthetic polymers (plastics) from crude oil was a break- exposure to u.v. or heat, respectively. Often, the synthetic
through, in Chemistry and in Material Sciences, and polymers will contain pro-oxidant (a photo sensitizer)
paved the way to the production of one of the most compounds; these are known as oxo-biodegradable poly-
versatile group of materials ever produced. These new mers. For example, photodegradation of low density
materials combined features exhibiting strength, flexi- polyethylene (LDPE) and polypropylene (PP) films
bility, light-weight, easy and low-cost production. How- can be activated using metal oxides as catalysts [5–8].
ever, these materials were found to be extremely durable Those materials require oxidative degradation in order to
and were considered among the most non-biodegradable reduce the molar mass and to form oxygenated groups
synthetic materials. These traits facilitated the appli- (such as carbonyl), which are more easily metabolized by
cation of plastics to almost any industrial, agricultural microorganisms. Pro-oxidants may also be incorporated
or domestic market. For example, current soil mulching into the polymer chain (1–5%, w/w) [9]. Saturated humid-
with PE in Agriculture is a common practice (Figure 1). ity increases abiotic oxidative degradation and biodegra-
dation, compared to natural humidity. The PE samples
The most consumed synthetic polymer is PE with a mineralized about 12% of the original carbon in compost
current global production of ca. 140 million tons per year. at 58 8C for three months after being exposed for one year
In the absence of efficient methods for safe disposal of to natural weathering. Exposure periods longer than three

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 New perspectives in plastic biodegradation Sivan 423

Figure 1 porus T7A, S. badius 252 and S. setonii 75Vi2 and degra-
dation by active enzymes was observed. The study
confirmed a modification of the polymer structure and
of the material as well as material-property changes [16].
Presumably, this was owing to the fact that many of these
polymers served as nutrient reservoir that can be utilized
after being depolymerized to short oligomers. Shah et al.
[11] reported various natural polyesters such as: poly-
hydroxybutirate [17] and polycaprolactone [18] that can
also be degraded and assimilated by various microbial
populations. Furthermore, a number of PHA depoly-
merases and their genes have been isolated [19,20].

Similarly, degradation of polyurethane was obtained with

several fungal strains: Fusarium solani, Curvularia senega-
lensis and Aureobasidium pullulans sp. [21] and that of
polyvinyl chloride (PVC) by the bacterium Pseudomonas
Current Opinion in Biotechnology
putida [22].

‘Sea’ of plastic. Soil mulching with polyethylene, of agricultural crops, The relative high number of reports exhibiting the bio-
has become a major source of polyethylene waste. degradability of a wide range of plastics may lead to a
wrong conclusion that most of the plastic polymers can be
readily biodegraded. In fact, in terms of amounts, the
months and environmental moisture exert little influence production of the polymers PE and PS is, by far, greater
on the degradability of cobalt-activated PE [10]. than that of the rest of the other plastic compounds that
are considered biodegradable. Furthermore, not all types
Microbial degradation of plastics of degradable plastics are destroyed completely in natural
During the past two years two comprehensive reports on environments, raising the question of the definition of
the degradation of plastic had been published [11,12]. biodegradable. Biodegradation is defined as the capacity
These studies reported on plastic biodegradation (i.e. of one or more cultures of microorganisms to utilize the
exerted by the aid of microorganisms) and on biodegrad- synthetic polymer as a sole source of carbon. In contrast to
ability (i.e. the potential of a synthetic polymer to be natural polymers that exhibit a relatively high level of
degraded by microorganisms). The degradation process of biodegradability, synthetic polymers such as PE and PS
PE, provided as the sole source of carbon and energy in are considered to be non-biodegradable. To facilitate
soil microorganisms specifically, showed that small frag- biodegradation of these polymers a preliminary step of
ments were consumed faster than larger ones [13]. How- photo-oxidation or thermo-oxidation has routinely been
ever, this cannot serve as an indication for biodegradation employed. This oxidation of the polymer results in the
that requires reduction in molecular weight. formation of carbonyl residues that can be consumed by
non-specific microbial populations. Thus far, only a few
The oxidizing effect of u.v. irradiation on polyolefins microbial strains are capable of degrading standard non-
degradation is well documented [11]. For example, oxidized PE [11]. These include the actinomycete
biodegradation in compost was investigated for irradiated Rhodococcus ruber (strain C208), [23–25]. The thermo-
ethylene propylene copolymers, low-density PE (LDPE) phylic bacterium Brevibacillus borstelensis (strain
and isotactic-polypropylene (PP) films. As expected, the 707)[26] and the fungus Penicillium simplicissimum [27].
tests showed that degradation increased with increasing Interestingly, even a large screening of 200 soil samples
irradiation time. However, after 6 months of incubation, from various locations, yielded only five PE degrading
LDPE was still the slowest sample to be degraded [14]. strains [23]. In liquid culture, the degradation of PE by
The ability to degrade or modify PE films was also C208 resulted in a reduction of ca. 8% in the dry weight of
demonstrated with two Actinomycetes sp., showing that the polyolefin within 30 days of incubation. Owing to its
extracellular enzymes detected were able to degrade high durability PE is often photo-oxidized and/or thermo
the polymer, although at a slow rate [15]. LDPE modified oxidized as a pretreatment before the incubation with the
with starch was tested for biodegradation in soil micro- degrading culture [23].
cosms for 6 months. It was shown that inoculation of soil
with P. chrysosporium enhanced the degradation and bio- Formation of biofilm on the plastic surface seems to be
mass increased much more than in non-inoculated soil the favorite mode of growth of plastic degrading bacteria
[15]. Heat-treated degradable films of starch-PE were (Figure 2). Since plastic polymers such as PE and PS are
incubated with extracellular concentrates of S. viridos- hydrophobic, forming a stable biofilm requires that the

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424 Environmental biotechnology

Figure 2

Control 3 days 14 days

5µm 5µm 5µm

Current Opinion in Biotechnology

SEM photomicrographs of biofilm formed by Rhodococcus ruber C208 on the surface of UV photo oxidized polyethylene. Initiation of biodegradation
was detecte as early as after 3 days. UV irradiated but not inoculated served as control.

bacterial surface will also be hydrophobic. Indeed, there of C208 with polystyrene resulted in a dense biofilm on
is evidence in the literature demonstrating a correlation the polystyrene surface that may have led to a partial
between carbon starvation and bacterial hydrophobicity degradation (about 0.8% weight loss) of the polymer [25].
[28]. Similarly, Sanin et al. (2003) reported changes in Evaluation of bacterial cell-surface hydrophobicity can be
bacterial surface hydrophobicity in response to carbon carried out by assessing the bacterial adhesion to hydro-
starvation [29]. It was shown that with carbon starved carbons (BATH) assay [31] or by the salt aggregation test
culture bacterial isolates, including R. corallinus, became (SAT) [32]. Both methods confirmed the high level of cell
more hydrophobic and more adhesive than with non- surface hydrophobicity in strain C208 compared that of
starved cells. These findings may explain the high affinity three other isolates that were obtained from the same
of C208 cells for the polystyrene and raise the possibility consortium. Interestingly, these strains were less efficient
that the low carbon availability in srain C208 cultures may than C208 in the degradation of polyethylene. Indeed,
also enhance hydrophobic interactions and biofilm de- mineral oil, but not nonionic surfactants, enhanced the
velopment. Similarly, in a recent study, polyethylene, the colonization of polyethylene and increased biodegrada-
biofilm of R. ruber formed on polyethylene showed high tion by about 50% [23].
viability and even after 60 days of incubation adhered to
the polyethylene without any supplementation of exter- Direct biodegradation of polyethylene by
nal carbon [24]. These findings are supported by biofilms extracellular enzymes
of many other bacteria. For example, some plastic poly- In search for depolymerases that could serve as candidates
mers (natural or synthetic) that are readily degraded by for oxidizing durable synthetic polymers we have recently
the general marine and soil microflora. This method relies isolated a putative laccase produced by the actinomycete
on introducing non-specific chemical bonds into the R. ruber that is involved in polyethylene biodegradation.
polymer that increase its degradability by the general Laccases are best known in lignin-biodegrading fungi,
microbial population [11]). Specific biodegradation is where they catalyse the oxidation of aromatic compounds.
based on one or more axenic cultures that are used to However, there is evidence of laccase activity on non-
inoculate the plastic [23,24,26,27] or as a consortium [30]. aromatic substrates [33]. Since laccase is a copper-binding
enzyme with 4 binding sites that may contribute to its
Despite of their high durability and non-biodegradability, oxidizing activity [34], we have postulated that copper
synthetic polymers are not inert. Indeed, when C208 were might affect laccase activity and contribute to the biode-
grown on PS as the sole carbon source. The carbon gradation of polyethylene. Indeed, the data obtained from
limitation resulted in death of planktonic cells while RT-PCR, showed a 13-fold increase in laccase mRNA
biofilms exhibited high adhesion and durability [25]. levels, confirmed that copper is involved in the induction
Furthermore, prolonged incubation (of up to 8 weeks) of laccase in strain C208. Similarly, the addition of

Current Opinion in Biotechnology 2011, 22:422–426 www.sciencedirect.com

 New perspectives in plastic biodegradation Sivan 425

400 mM of copper resulted in an 18-fold increase in the oxidative enzymes. d) Increase of cell surface hydropho-
laccase activity of Trametes versicolor [35]. Likewise, Pal- bicity by the use of non-ionic surfactants that will
mieri et al. (2000) reported that addition of CuSO4 enhance biofilm formation.
increased the laccase activity of Pleurotus ostreatus by
up to 50-fold [36]. Nevertheless, laccase from T. versicolor References and recommended reading
did not affect polyethylene (Santo and Sivan, unpub- Papers of particular interest, published within the annual period of
review, have been highlighted as:
lished). This may be due to differences in enzyme activity
and/or the presence of effective mediators in strain C208  of special interest
laccase preparation.  of outstanding interest

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 fragmentation of plastic debris in global environments. Philos
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of laccase in the presence of copper [37]. Similarly, This paper demonstrates that plastic pollution is not merely an aesthetic
issue. The authors provide descriptions of the fate of plastic waste in the
southern blot analysis of laccase cDNA produced by environment where it is ingested by various animals and may accumulate
the fungi P. ostreatus and T. pubescens revealed that copper in the food chain.
has an inductive effect on laccase cDNA production [38]. 3. Frias JP, Sobral P, Ferreira AM: Organic pollutants in
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2009, 1526:2027-2045.
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way for large scale reactors where degradation of poly- mediating the transport of toxic chemicals from the plastic particles to
wild life organisms posing a grave environmental pollution.
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This is the most informative and comprehensive review on biodegradation
gradation of polyethylene and, possibly, of other plastics. of plastics ever published. The review discusses abiotic and biotic
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review includes a very helpful list of methods and their applications.
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