Abstract

Synthetic plastic waste management is a tenacious environmental concern at global level. Although all types of synthetic plastics are a nuisance to the environment, however, versatility and one time use has made polyethylene (PE) a foremost environmental issue. Current study has investigated cavern bacterial strains isolated from PE samples from San Giovanni cave, Sardinia, Italy for their efficacy to biodegrade low density polyethylene (LDPE) film. It was an initial effort to use cavern bacteria in plastic biodegradation studies. Chemical and physical changes in the composition of LDPE were studied by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) after incubation with the bacterial consortium for two months. Collected cavern PE plastic samples were also studied for biodegradation after incubation in nutrient broth for two months. FTIR revealed obvious signs of degradation with the appearance of two new peaks of functional groups, nitriles (C≡N) and amines (N-H) in LDPE film, which are intermediate metabolites of β-oxidation pathway. An increase in various existing peaks of several intermediate metabolites, including aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, and carboxylic acids, were also observed in experimental LDPE compared to control. Peaks of alkanes decreased significantly owing to cavern bacterial activity. SEM revealed biofilm formation on experimental LDPE surface with substantial mechanical damage. Similar signs of degradation were observed in the cavern PE samples. Four bacterial strains in the current consortium including Bacillus sonorensis, Bacillus subtilis, Aneurinibacillus spp., and Alcaligenes faecalis are first time reported to be linked with biodegradation of plastics. The cavern bacteria under study have the potential to biodegrade LDPE.

Keywords: Polyethylene, FTIR, SEM, LDPE, biodegradation, synthetic plastic.

Graphical Abstract