Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Biodegradation of Plastic and the Role of Microbial Enzymes in Plastic Waste Management

This review examines how microbial enzymes, particularly PET hydrolases and oxidative enzymes, can depolymerize and break down common plastic polymers through biological degradation. The study suggests that enzymatic approaches to plastic waste management offer a promising complement to mechanical and chemical recycling, though optimizing enzyme activity and scaling up the process remain key challenges.

2026 International Journal of Education Management and Technology
Article Tier 2

Microbial biodegradation of plastics: Challenges, opportunities, and a critical perspective

Researchers reviewed microbial biodegradation of synthetic plastics, summarizing the bacterial and fungal species, enzymes, and biochemical pathways capable of breaking down common polymers and arguing that combining microbial approaches with physicochemical methods offers the most promising eco-friendly route to plastic waste remediation.

2022 Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering 88 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial Biodegradation of Plastics and Microplastics: Enzymatic Mechanisms, Biotechnological Applications, and Ecotoxicological Perspectives

This review examined the enzymatic mechanisms by which microorganisms degrade plastics and microplastics, covering biotechnological applications and ecotoxicological perspectives. Researchers found that certain bacterial and fungal enzymes can break down persistent plastic polymers, positioning microbial biodegradation as a promising sustainable remediation approach, though scalability and environmental deployment remain challenges.

2025 Environmental Toxicology and Ecology 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent Advancements and Mechanism of Plastics Biodegradation Promoted by Bacteria: A Key for Sustainable Remediation for Plastic Wastes

This review highlights recent discoveries of microbial enzymes capable of degrading various plastics, discussing bacterial biodegradation mechanisms as a sustainable remediation strategy for addressing accumulating plastic waste in landfills and water bodies.

2023 Biosciences Biotechnology Research Asia 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Biodegradation of Microplastic: A Sustainable Approach

This review examines biological approaches to microplastic degradation, covering microorganisms and enzymes capable of breaking down common plastic polymers such as PET and polyethylene. Biodegradation could offer a sustainable path to reducing microplastic accumulation in soil, water, and marine environments.

2023 International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences
Article Tier 2

Harnessing Microorganisms for Microplastic Degradation: A Sustainable Approach to Mitigating Environmental Pollution

This review surveys microorganisms—bacteria, fungi, and other taxa—capable of degrading microplastics, examining the enzymes, metabolic pathways, and environmental conditions involved, and assessing the practical potential of harnessing these organisms for bioremediation of plastic pollution.

2025 NIPES Journal of Science and Technology Research
Article Tier 2

Microbial Degradation and Valorization of Plastic Wastes

This review covers recent advances in microbial and enzymatic degradation of synthetic plastic wastes, summarizing the microorganisms and enzymes capable of attacking different polymer types and assessing the prospects for biological plastic waste treatment at scale.

2020 Frontiers in Microbiology 551 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbes mediated plastic degradation: A sustainable approach for environmental sustainability

This review examines microbially mediated plastic degradation as a sustainable environmental cleanup strategy, surveying bacterial and fungal species capable of breaking down common polymers and discussing enzymatic pathways and factors limiting practical biodegradation rates.

2022 Journal of Applied Biology & Biotechnology 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Plastic waste impact and biotechnology: Exploring polymer degradation, microbial role, and sustainable development implications

Researchers reviewed how microorganisms and their enzymes can break down different types of plastic waste through both aerobic (oxygen-using) and anaerobic (oxygen-free) pathways. The review highlights biotechnological tools like genetic modification that could accelerate plastic biodegradation, supporting a shift toward a circular economy.

2023 Bioresource Technology Reports 86 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial plastic degradation: enzymes, pathways, challenges, and perspectives.

This review synthesizes current knowledge on microbial plastic degradation, covering the enzymes and metabolic pathways involved in breaking down major synthetic polymers, the challenges limiting efficient biodegradation, and perspectives for engineering improved microbial solutions to plastic waste.

2025 Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR
Article Tier 2

Management of Environmental Plastic Pollution: a Comparison of Existing Strategies and Emerging Solutions from Nature

Researchers reviewed the full landscape of plastic waste management strategies — from production controls and recycling to biological degradation — finding that while traditional approaches have had mixed results, newly discovered plastic-eating microbes and enzymes offer a promising complementary path to reducing the global plastic burden.

2023 Water Air & Soil Pollution 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Role of Novel Biological Agents in Plastic Degradation and Mitigation Approach towards Bioplastics

This review examines the role of novel biological agents — including bacteria, fungi, and engineered microorganisms — in degrading synthetic plastics and proposes bioplastics as a mitigation strategy to reduce persistent polymer accumulation in the environment. The authors outline the enzymatic mechanisms involved in breaking down major plastic types and discuss the potential of combining biological degradation with bioplastic adoption.

2025 THE ASIAN BULLETIN OF GREEN MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Article Tier 2

Insights into Microbial Enzymatic Biodegradation of Plastics and Microplastics: Technological Updates

This review covers the latest advances in using microbial enzymes and biotechnology to break down plastic and microplastic waste. While some bacteria and fungi can partially degrade certain plastics, the process is slow and limited by factors like the plastic's chemical structure and crystallinity. The research points toward genetic engineering and genome editing as potential tools to speed up plastic degradation, though practical large-scale solutions are still in development.

2025 ACS Environmental Au 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Nature-Inspired Strategies for Sustainable Degradation of Synthetic Plastics

This review examines nature-inspired biological strategies for breaking down synthetic plastics, including enzyme engineering and microbial approaches. The study suggests that mimicking natural degradation processes could overcome the chemical and physical barriers that make plastics resistant to breakdown, offering a path toward more sustainable plastic waste management.

2024 JACS Au 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Strategies and technologies for sustainable plastic waste treatment and recycling

This review covers current and emerging methods for recycling and treating plastic waste to reduce environmental pollution. The authors emphasize that improperly managed plastics break down into microplastics that contaminate ecosystems, and they evaluate strategies including chemical recycling, biodegradation, and energy recovery as more sustainable alternatives to landfilling.

2025 Environmental Functional Materials 10 citations
Article Tier 2

A minireview on the bioremediative potential of microbial enzymes as solution to emerging microplastic pollution

This mini review explores the potential of microbial enzymes as a sustainable solution for degrading microplastics, discussing recent advances in identifying plastic-degrading enzymes and the challenges remaining for practical bioremediation applications.

2023 Frontiers in Microbiology 50 citations
Article Tier 2

Frontiers in plastic biodegradation: unraveling the mechanisms and impacts of macro- and microplastic pollution

This review examined current approaches to breaking down plastic pollution using microorganisms and enzymes, covering common plastics like polyethylene, polypropylene, PET, and polystyrene. Researchers highlighted several promising biological degradation pathways, including enzymes like PETase and laccase produced by bacteria and fungi. The study suggests that combining genetic engineering of plastic-degrading organisms with circular economy strategies could help address the growing global plastic pollution crisis.

2026 Biodegradation 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Why have we not yet solved the challenge of plastic degradation by biological means?

This review explores why biological plastic degradation remains unsolved despite decades of research, examining the limitations of microbial and enzymatic approaches and arguing that complementary strategies combining multiple methods will be needed.

2023 PLoS Biology 39 citations
Article Tier 2

Aquatic Plastics Waste Biodegradation Using Plastic Degrading Microbes

This review covers how microorganisms — including algae, bacteria, and fungi — produce enzymes that can break down plastic polymers through a multi-step biodegradation process. While biological plastic degradation is promising as an environmentally friendly approach, the efficiency and scalability of microbial plastic breakdown still requires significant improvement.

2021 Journal of Microbiology Biotechnology and Food Sciences 15 citations
Article Tier 2

Engineering a Solution: Recent Technological Advances in the Microbial Bioremediation of Microplastics

This review examines recent advances in microbial bioremediation of microplastics, highlighting the limitations of conventional treatments and presenting biological alternatives using bacteria, fungi, and algae capable of degrading plastic polymers. The authors discuss key enzymatic mechanisms and the potential for scaling microbial approaches as sustainable remediation tools for plastic pollution.

2025 SPIRE - Sciences Po Institutional REpository
Review Tier 2

The plastic and microplastic waste menace and bacterial biodegradation for sustainable environmental clean-up a review

This review examined bacterial biodegradation of plastic and microplastic waste, covering key microbial species, enzymatic mechanisms, and biotechnological approaches being developed for sustainable environmental cleanup of plastic pollution.

2023 Environmental Research 42 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent trends in microbial and enzymatic plastic degradation: a solution for plastic pollution predicaments

This review covers recent advances in using microorganisms and their enzymes to break down plastics including polyethylene, PVC, polystyrene, and PET, with techniques like protein engineering being used to boost enzyme efficiency. Microbial degradation offers a sustainable approach to reducing the persistent plastic pollution that generates the microplastics found throughout the environment and human body.

2024 Biotechnology for Sustainable Materials 64 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent advances in biodegradation of emerging contaminants - microplastics (MPs): Feasibility, mechanism, and future prospects

This review explores biological approaches to breaking down microplastics, including using bacteria, fungi, and enzymes. While some organisms can partially degrade certain plastic types, the process is slow and incomplete compared to the scale of pollution. The research is promising for future cleanup efforts but shows that biodegradation alone cannot yet solve the microplastic contamination problem.

2023 Chemosphere 81 citations
Article Tier 2

Bio-Conversion Of Plastic Waste Into Sustainable Biofuels: A Comprehensive Review Of Microbial Degradation Approaches

This review examines recent advances in converting plastic waste into sustainable biofuels via microbial degradation, covering the enzymatic and metabolic processes used by bacteria and fungi to break down plastics and the potential of these approaches to address plastic pollution.

2024 IOSR Journal of Environmental Science Toxicology and Food Technology