Distinct Bacterial and Fungal Communities Colonizing Waste Plastic Films Buried for More Than 20 Years in Four Landfill Sites in Korea.

ABSTRACT: Plastic pollution has been recognized as a serious environmental problem, and microbial degradation of plastics is a potential, environmentally friendly solution to this. Here, we analyzed and compared microbial communities on waste plastic films (WPFs) buried for long periods at four landfill sites with those in nearby soils to identify microbes with the potential to degrade plastics. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy spectra of these WPFs showed that most were polyethylene and had signs of oxidation, such as carbon-carbon double bonds, carbon-oxygen single bonds, or hydrogen-oxygen single bonds, but the presence of carbonyl groups was rare. The species richness and diversity of the bacterial and fungal communities on the films were generally lower than those in nearby soils. Princi

SUBMITTER: Chung JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9843814 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature