Microbial remediation of micro-nano plastics: Current knowledge and future trends

An alarming rise of micro-nano plastics (MNPs) in environment is currently causing the biggest threat to biotic and abiotic components around the globe. These pollutants, apart from being formed through fragmentation of larger plastic pieces and are also manufactured for commercial usage. MNPs enter...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEnvironmental pollution (1987) Vol. 265; p. 115044
Main Authors Tiwari, Neha, Santhiya, Deenan, Sharma, Jai Gopal
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2020
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Summary:An alarming rise of micro-nano plastics (MNPs) in environment is currently causing the biggest threat to biotic and abiotic components around the globe. These pollutants, apart from being formed through fragmentation of larger plastic pieces and are also manufactured for commercial usage. MNPs enter agro-ecosystem, wildlife, and human body through the food chain, ingestion or through inhalation, causing blockage in the blood-brain barrier, lower fertility, and behavioural abnormalities among other problems. Hence, it becomes essential to develop novel procedures for remediation of MNPs. Among the numerous existing methods, microbial remediation promises to degrade/recover MNPs via a green route. Since microbial remediation processes mostly depend upon biotic and abiotic factors such as (temperature, pH, oxidative stress, etc.), it becomes easy to influence changes in the plastic pollutants. Hence, with the help of recent technologies, a complete degradation/removal of MNPs can be expected by utilizing the respective carbon content as energy sources for growth of microorganisms. In this review, considering the urgent environmental need, the impact of micro-nano plastics on ecosystem along with its corresponding degradation mechanisms has been brought out. Also, importance of the various recent research approaches in MNPs remediation is highlighted. Finally, the role of enzyme and membrane technology, nanoparticle technology, and metagenomics in remediation of MNPs are discussed for the first time in detail to bring out a novel remedy for the environment. [Display omitted] •The sources of micro-nano plastics include primary and secondary sources.•Fine plastics impact rigorously on the quality of ecosystem and human health.•Microbial remediation of micro-nano plastics operated through various mechanisms.•Plastic remediation by metagenomic, membrane and enzyme technologies is attractive.•A technological fusion is required to remediate micro-nano plastics.
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ISSN:0269-7491
1873-6424
DOI:10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115044