Can biotechnology strategies effectively manage environmental (micro)plastics?

With the convenience of plastic products to daily life, the negative sides of the plastic-age have gradually emerged. Like other pollutants, complex environmental factors result in the ubiquitous presence of (micro)plastics worldwide, raising potential risks to the ecological systems. However, due to the limitation of traditional technologies in treating these materials, new strategies should be developed. More recently, researchers have showed that biotechnology strategies could be promising approaches to effectively manage and control (micro)plastics in the environment, because some microorganisms have been confirmed to be successfully capable of degrading (micro)plastics. Nevertheless, the biotechnology is still in its infancy, and most studies are carried out under laboratory conditions. The biodegradation process is affected by many factors: microorganism species, carbon sources, material types and sizes. Problematically, (micro)plastics are highly stable in the environment, which are difficult to be used as carbon sources for microorganisms. Biodegradation of (micro)plastics requires appropriate conditions, which are not always feasible in field conditions. As such, although biotechnology strategies might be a promising approach to remove environmental (micro)plastics, we believe it is not now at least. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.