The Plastic Waste Menace and Approaches to Its Management Through Biodegradation

Introduction

The contemporary world characterised by industrial revolution has seen a surge in production and use of plastics (Howard, 2018). According to Sheth et al. (2019), plastics are an engineering marvel evident from their many applications. The trend is prompted by the suitable characteristics of plastics including corrosion resistance, affordability, durability, strength and lightweight according to Babayemi et al. (2019). By 2017, Geyer et al. (2017) noted that 8.3 billion metric tonnes of virgin plastics had be generated and out of this amount, 6.3 billion metric tonnes became waste. Another study estimated the yearly production of plastics to be approximately 140 million metric tonnes worldwide with a per capita plastic consumption of 43 kilogrammes (Babayemi et al., 2019). Of concern is the waste resulting from plastic production and use (Howard, 2018; Alpizar et al., 2020). Caruso (2015) pointed out that plastic waste is an emerging global threat with grave environmental and social implications and must be prioritised in future research to enhance its management and controlled release to environmental media. Of the resultant waste, only 12% was recycled while the rest was released to the environment or disposed at landfill facilities (Geyer et al., 2017). Drzyzga and Prieto (2018) shared similar sentiments claiming that by 2016, the world was producing more than 335 million metric tonnes of plastics and the figure was projected to double in the next two decades though most of its resultant waste was disposed. Babayemi et al. (2019) also noted that 8,300 million tonnes of virgin plastics were produced between 1950 and 2015 though a majority at 79% were landfilled. A country like India has seen consistent increase in consumption of plastics with annual consumption rates being at 0.4, 4, 8 and 16.5 million tonnes per year in 1990, 2001, 2009 and 2019, respectively and so is its associated waste production (Venkatesh & Kukreti, 2018). The European Union, North America and Asia are also high plastic producers at 57 metric tonnes, 100 and 20 kg/capita annually in respective order (Babayemi et al., 2019).

The production of plastic waste and its problematic management is a human and environmental issue worldwide that is directly proportional to economic development (Howard, 2018). The situation is more prevalent in developing countries of Africa and Asia whose capacity to recycle is limited (Babayemi et al., 2019). According to Webb et al. (2012), plastic waste resilience to degradation and its increased use leading to pollution in terrestrial and aquatic environs is a global ecological threat. Two means ensure that the plastic pollution stream is continuous: 1) through carelessly maintained waste streams and 2) intentional illegal and unscientific disposal of industrial and domestic refuse (Webb et al., 2012). With the increased production of plastics and the precognition of its negative effects, devising novel techniques of lowering plastic waste impact is essential. This can be done through the adoption of biodegradation technologies as Wierckx et al. (2018) highlighted. This chapter explores the plastic menace, available approaches of management and measures to alleviate its environmental effects through biodegradation. This technique uses natural or artificially introduced microbes (mainly bacteria and fungi) to break down plastics and has unrealised potential to improve existing efforts to manage these pollutants as many authors have noted (Ahmed et al., 2018; Fesseha & Abebe, 2019; Sheth et al., 2019).