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7 Bioremediation of Plastics and Polythene in Marine Water

7.8

Future Perspectives: Development of More Refined

Bioremediation Technologies as a Step Toward Zero

Waste Strategy

The plastic has entered all domains of the ecosystem. There is a need the hour to

develop as many methods as possible to degrade the plastic polymer, so that the

environment runs free of this deadly pollutant. As it is known from studies that there

exists a small pint of enzymes that are available that can degrade synthetic plastic.

The significant drawback here lies in the initial attack on the high molecular weight

chain of the highly robust and stable polymer.

The current old school techniques of cultivation of organisms seem inefficient in

searching for a method that could degrade plastic at a much faster pace. On the other

hand, various modern techniques such as metagenomic analysis, gene-mining, and

dark matter proteins offer promising results and solve this growing problem. Various

biotechnological interventions in the field of molecular engineering have shortened

the path between genes and pathways. The accessibility to different online databases

makes it possible to correlate the pathway and functions of key proteins, and cellular

metabolism provides an insight to all naturally existing capabilities. In silico comput-

ing has immensely helped predict and understand the metabolic pathways and the

working mechanism that organisms follow during degradation. Genome mapping

and protein engineering seem to play a vital role in designing proteins and enzymes,

which may simplify the task of cleaving plastic debris.

There is an important need to standardize the existing findings/protocols on plas-

tic degradation. As commercial plastic, which results in plastic waste, it consists of

not only plastic alone but also certain additives, plasticizers, and colors, etc., which

make the actual process of biodegradation difficult and complicated. Keeping in

mind the biodegradation of existing plastic debris, one area should also be consid-

ered in the production of environment-friendly polymer (biopolymer), which could

be easily degraded naturally. The production of the existing biopolymer needs to be

paced up and should replace synthetic polymer for practical applications.

Various research groups are looking for a solution that may reverse the dogma

where biodegradation of long-chain polymers to their monomeric units can profi-

ciently be achieved. Through integrated approaches and interdisciplinary work done

in a well-organized and disciplined manner, it is very much likely to curb plastic

pollution on a few more decades to come.

Acknowledgment

The authors acknowledge the Indo-EU Horizon 2020 project (BT/IN/EU-WR/60/

SP/2018) funded by the Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi. Further, the

authors also acknowledge Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam, India,

for providing financial and infrastructural support for carrying out the present work.