A SEMINAR REPORT ON

MICROORGANISMS IN WASTE
RECYLING
BY
TIMILEHIN ANIKE OGUNBIYI
20/57MB/01604
SUPERVISOR- DR. A.T. AJAO
OUTLINE
• Waste and Waste Recycling
• Role of Microorganisms in Waste Recycling
• CONCLUSION
• RECOMMENDATION
• REFERENCE

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Waste and Waste Recycling

• Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no

use. Examples include municipal solid waste, hazardous waste, wastewater (such

as sewage, which contains bodily wastes (feces and urine) and surface

runoff), radioactive waste and others (Velenturf et al., 2019).

• Waste recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and

objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials

(Waldrop, 2020).

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Role of Microorganisms in Waste Recycling

1. Enzymatic Oxidation

• The oxidative enzymes form radicals which can be broken down into different fractions,

eventually forming compounds with high molecular weight (Unuofin et al., 2019).

• An example of an oxidoreductase enzyme is laccase, which catalyzes the oxidation of

aromatic amines (Sahay, 2021).

• Laccase production has been reported in Pycnoporus sp. and Leptosphaerulina sp.

where it was outlined to degrade heavy metals (Tian et al., 2020).

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Role of Microorganisms in Waste Recycling

2. Bioaugmentation

• Microorganisms are specially added to polluted sites to feed on toxic pollutants in a

process referred to as bioaugmentation. It is a very effective, rapid and cost-effective

method of bioremediation (Mahmoud, 2021).

• Burkholderia sp. which was added to a polluted site, has been reported to degrade

nitrophenolic compound present in pesticides polluted soil to a less toxic form at a

slightly acidic pH and a temperature of about 30° C (Ojuederie et al., 2021).

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Role of Microorganisms in Waste Recycling

3. Biostimulation

• Biostimulation is the addition of nutrients (such as nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus),

metabolites, electron donors, enzymes, electron acceptors, biosurfactants, etc., which

are limiting to the soil to enhance the activity of the resident microbes and increase the

remediation process (Ojuederie and Babalola, 2021).

• Effectiveness of Bacillus sp., Rhodococcus sp., Staphylococcus sp., Klebsiella sp.,

Pseudomonas sp., and Citrobacter sp. has been reported in bioremediation of heavy

metals through the biostimulation technique Nivetha et al. (2022).

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Role of Microorganisms in Waste Recycling

4. Bioleaching

• Bioleaching is the process of utilizing acidophilic microbes to promote the

• Therefore, iron- or sulfur-oxidizing bacteria are majorly recruited for this process;
examples of such organisms are Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans, Aspergillus sp., Mucor
sp., Penicillium sp., Cladosporium sp. and Rhizopus sp. (Medfu Tarekegn et al., 2020).

• These microbes create an acid environment and solubilize heavy metals in an

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 Role of Microorganisms in Waste Recycling
5. Precipitation

• This is the conversion of heavy metals or pollutants into precipitates or crystals,

resulting in a reduced toxicity level (Pratush et al., 2018).

• For instance, sulfate-reducing bacteria are capable of converting organo-phosphate to

ortho-phosphate when the pH is alkaline (i.e. above 7) (Pratush et al., 2018).

• Similarly, Bacillus subtilis and Oceanobacillus indicireducens have also been reported

to be associated with the precipitation of heavy metals in the environment (Maity et al.,

2019).

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 Role of Microorganisms in Waste Recycling

6. Biosorption

• This is the adsorption of heavy metals from pollutants through proton and ion

displacement, complexation, chelation and physical interaction with electrostatic forces

(Mahmoud, 2021).

• It involves the removal of contaminants from solutions as a result of the outer cell

shield of bacteria, fungi and algae which are bioremediation agents.

• Rhodococcus erythropolis, Streptomyces sp., and Bacillus anthracis have been reported

to be capable of bioremediation through the biosorption process (Mathew and

Krishnamurthy, 2018).
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 Role of Microorganisms in Waste Recycling
7. Bioaccumulation

• Bioaccumulation refers to the process where the rate of absorption of a compound is

more than the rate at which the compound is lost. This process leads to the (toxic) build-

up of compounds in the intracellular portion of the microbes. (Sharma et al., 2022).

• Heavy metals move across the membrane of microbes using different mechanisms such

as carrier-mediated transport, protein channel and ion pumps (Sharma et al., 2022).

• For example, Rhizopus arrhizus, bioremediates mercury, Pseudomonas putida,

bioremediates cadmium and Aspergillus niger bioremediates thorium (Sharma et al.,

2022).

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 CONCLUSION
• Waste materials are the substances which are of no use either to the producers or to consumers and humans
are most responsible for their generation. The major components of the waste are organic, inorganic, and
different hazardous compounds generated from domestic, agricultural, and industrial sources.

• Most important is the management of these wastes which includes conventional and biological methods.
The physical and chemical processes usually show negative consequences because of their high cost and
maintenance.

• Therefore biological techniques are mostly preferred because of the use of microorganisms and their eco-
friendly results. The biological techniques generally involve microorganisms, such as bacteria, algae, fungi,
virus, and protozoa, in techniques including activated sludge, composting, oxidation ponds, trickling filters,
etc.
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RECOMMENDATION
• In the process of waste management for the sake of eco-friendly and cost-effective benefits by

using microorganisms, the following recommendations can be considered.

1. Projects including waste management should be launched by countries and residents should be

educated on proper management and disposal of waste.

2. Separation of wastes based on their sources should be done for effective management and

degradation of wastes.

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REFERENCES
• Bhandari, G., Gupta, S., Chaudhary, P., Chaudhary, S. and Gangola, S. (2023). “Bioleaching: a sustainable
resource recovery strategy for urban mining of e-waste,” in Microbial technology for sustainable e-waste
management. Eds. P. Debbarma, S. Kumar, D. C. Suyal and R. Soni (Cham: Springer), 12:157–175
• Mahmoud, G. A.E. (2021). “Microbial scavenging of heavy metals using bioremediation strategies,” in
Rhizobiont in bioremediation of hazardous waste. Eds. K. Vivek, P. Ram and K. Manoj (Singapore: Springer),
34:265–289.
• Maity, J. P., Chen, G.S., Huang, Y.-H., Sun, A.C. and Chen, C.-Y. (2019). Ecofriendly heavy metal stabilization:
microbial induced mineral precipitation (MIMP) and biomineralization for heavy metals within the contaminated
soil by indigenous bacteria. Geomicrobiology Journal 36 (7):612–623.
• Mathew, B. B. and Krishnamurthy, N. B. (2018). Screening and identification of bacteria isolated from industrial
area groundwater to study lead sorption: kinetics and statistical optimization of biosorption parameters .
Groundwater Sustain. Development 7:313– 327
• Medfu Tarekegn, M., Zewdu Salilih, F. and Ishetu, A. I. (2020). Microbes used as a tool for bioremediation of
heavy metal from the environment. Cogent Food Agricultural 6 (1):178-194
• Nivetha, N., Srivarshine, B., Sowmya, B., Rajendiran, M., Saravanan, P. and Rajeshkannan, R. (2022). A
comprehensive review on bio-stimulation and bioenhancement towards remediation of heavy metals
degeneration. Chemosphere 3:137-199.
• Ojuederie, O. B., and Babalola, O. O. (2021). Microbial and plant-assisted bioremediation of heavy metal
polluted environments: a review. International Journal Environmental Research Public Health 14 (12):1504-
1515

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REFERENCES
• Ojuederie, O. B., Chukwuneme, F., Olanrewaju, O., Ayilara, M., Adegboyega, T. T. and Babalola, O. O. (2021).
Contribution of microbial inoculants in sustainable maintenance of human health, including test methods and
evaluation of safety of microbial pesticide microorganisms. Biopesticides: Botanicals Microorganisms
Improving Agricultural Human Health 27:207–240
• Pratush, A., Kumar, A. and Hu, Z. (2018). Adverse effect of heavy metals (As, Pb, Hg, and cr) on health and their
bioremediation strategies: a review. International Microbiology 21 (3):97–106
• Sahay, R. (2021). Synthetic applications of laccase and its catalytic potentials. International Journal Advance
Engineering Research Science 8 (6):112–120
• Tian, Q., Dou, X., Huang, L., Wang, L., Meng, D. and Zhai, L. (2020). Characterization of a robust cold-adapted
and thermostable laccase from Pycnoporus sp. SYBC-L10 with a strong ability for the degradation of
tetracycline and oxytetracycline by laccase-mediated oxidation. Journal Hazard. Materials 382:121-184
• Unuofin, J. O., Okoh, A. I. and Nwodo, U. U. (2019). Aptitude of oxidative enzymes for treatment of wastewater
pollutants: a laccase perspective. Molecules 24 (11):20-34
• Velenturf, A. P., Archer, S. A., Gomes, H. I., Christgen, B., Lag-Brotons, A. J. and Purnell, P. (2019). Circular
economy and the matter of integrated resources. Science of the Total Environment, 689:963-969.
• Waldrop, M. M. (2020). Small-scale fusion tackles energy, space applications. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, 117(4):1824-1828.

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THANK YOU

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