Enzymes? Power for Plastics Degradation

Plastics are everywhere in our modern way of living, and their production keeps increasing every year, causing major environmental concerns. Nowadays, the end-of life management involves accumulation in landfills, incineration, and recycling to a lower extent. This ecological threat to the environment is inspiring alternative bio-based solutions for plastic waste treatment and recycling toward a circular economy. Over the past decade, considerable efforts have been made to degrade commodity plastics using biocatalytic approaches. Here, we provide a comprehensive review on the recent advances in enzyme based biocatalysis and in the design of related biocatalytic processes to recycle or upcycle commodity plastics, including polyesters, polyamides, polyurethanes, and polyolefins. We also discuss scope and limitations, challenges, and opportunities of this field of research. An important message from this review is that polymer-assimilating enzymes are very likely part of the solution to reaching a circular plastic economy.

Automated summary

Plastics are widely used in modern life and their increasing production poses significant environmental concerns. The current end-of-life management mainly includes landfilling, incineration, and limited recycling. To achieve a circular economy, bio-based solutions for plastic waste treatment and recycling are being explored. This review focuses on the recent advances in enzyme-based biocatalysis and its applications in recycling or upcycling commodity plastics such as polyesters, polyamides, polyurethanes, and polyolefins. The scope, limitations, challenges, and opportunities in this field are also discussed. The findings highlight the potential of polymer-assimilating enzymes in achieving a circular plastic economy.