Polyethylene Degradation by Microbes (Bacteria & Fungus): A Review

The most often used predominant plastic made from petroleum-based material is polyethylene. It is a non-degradable plastic waste, which results in enormous accumulation in our environment. Plastics have been used inexplicably during the past few decades, including packaging, automotive, industrial, and agriculture in both rural and urban regions, because of their dependable mechanical characteristics, chemical inertness, cheap production costs, and ease of processing elevated major ecological concern posed by the improper disposal of plastic garbage and its pollutants. Around 64% of these plastics are polyethylene. Utilizing both physical and chemical methods to decompose polyethylene garbage has been criticized as an effect of an increase in ecological concerns they aggravate. It is crucial to evaluate a sustainable remediation strategy to conserve the ecosystem's constituents while minimizing environmental and health anxieties. Currently, the biodegradation of plastic using microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) has gained importance because of their effectiveness and affordability, environmental friendliness, and sustainability, as well as the capacity to break down most of the inorganic and organic compounds, such as starch, hemicellulose, lignin, and celluloses. They accomplish this by secreting metabolites such as depolymerase and polyhydroxyalkanoate, which promote plastic degradation. Our review discusses the current status, different degradation processes, lists of polyethylene degrading microbes, mechanism of biodegradation of polyethylene by microbes, and factors affecting their biodegradation. This review highlights the necessity for establishing an explanation for the biodegradation of polyethylene based on biochemical processes, making it easier to compare the findings of experiments specifically designed to study the biodegradation of polyethylene.