The increase in the amount of plastic waste, especially microplastics and the
environmental pollution caused by it has diverted the research focus of the world into
plastic recycling and degradation. Hence in the last decade, different strategies have
been adopted to combat this problem. Albeit many physiochemical technologies are
there for the degradation of plastics, they give rise to harmful chemicals as by-products.
This has shifted the priority of our research to the biodegradation of plastics by
microbes. In fact, in the last decade, many microorganisms have been discovered with
the ability to degrade many conventional plastics with moderate efficiency but longer
duration. The initial part of this chapter discusses the various kinds of plastics present
and the methods adopted for the degradation of plastics, with special emphasis on the
factors affecting plastic degradation. In the subsequent section, the microbial
degradation of different plastics by bacteria and fungi, along with a mechanism, has
been outlined. Furthermore, this chapter also briefly discusses the role of enzymes in
the degradation of different plastics by microbes and the future of plastic
biodegradation.
Keywords: Plastics, Plastics biodegradation, Microbes, Bacteria, Fungi, Microbial consortia, Microbial biofilm, Biodegradation mechanism, Enzymes, PETase.
