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The Role of Microbial Communities in Bioremediation of Plastic Waste

Processes 2026
Sneha Khadse

Summary

This review examines how microbial communities — including bacteria and fungi — enzymatically break down plastic polymers, highlighting the role of environmental conditions and genetic modification in enhancing degradation efficiency. This is directly relevant to microplastic pollution research because scaling up microbial plastic degradation could reduce the source material that fragments into the microplastics accumulating in ecosystems and human tissue.

The fast accumulation of plastic waste happens because insufficient recycling and proper disposal techniques allow only small quantities of plastic to be recycled thus releasing the vast majority into landfills and the environment. The research investigates how microbial collective organisms perform biological recovery of plastic waste. Plastic polymers undergo different enzymatic transformations through bacterial and fungal organisms before these microbes can break down the products to generate cellular metabolic energy. This study examines plastic-biodegrading microbial populations through enzyme research and environmental factor analysis and genetic modification studies focused on plastic degradation enhancement. This paper shows bioremediation operations need appropriate planning by explaining microbial technologies should be implemented during waste management activities. The research shows that plastic pollution management reaches success when applying microbial methods that combine bioplastics with modern biotechnological approaches to support environmental sustainability.

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