CURBING THE MENACE OF CLIMATE CHANGE THROUGH UNDERSTANDING THE MICROBES THAT DEGRADE PLASTIC: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Environmental pollution has been widely recognized as the sole and significant cause of climate change with health and environmental impacts. Approximately 90% of the billion tons of plastic waste generated globally add to land pollution while 75 to 199 million tons of plastic is currently found in oceans (UN, 2022). This may deter the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030 specifically goal 13 and its targets which seek to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impact by 2030. Hence, this systematic review seeks to identify and understand how microbes can degrade plastics and their application in developing an effective method of managing plastic waste and policy formulation to curb the menace of environmental pollution.

METHOD: A systematic review of works of literature using search terms coined from the research aim was used and a literature search in online databases and grey literature was conducted.

RESULT: The study revealed that a total of 49 articles met the eligibility criteria and were included in the study. About 51% of the publications analyzed revealed the most prevalent microbes (bacteria and fungi) that have the capacity to degrade plastic of which the Pseudomonas Species is the most prevalent of all. 25% revealed the characteristics of some of the microbes in relation to degradation time and efficiency and the pseudomonas species has a significant degradation efficiency of 75.3%. 20% revealed the most prevalent enzymes and the hydrolase class is the most prevalent of all. Information about effective management of plastic waste, and policy formulation was found in 10% with reference to achieving SDGs by 2030 especially in low-middle income countries.

CONCLUSION: The biodegradation of plastic waste is an evidence based and cost-effective method of managing plastic waste especially in low-middle income countries where there is poor plastic waste management system. Adding this method to the already existing 2021-2030 National Action Plan of plastic waste management where the Reduce, Re-use, Re-cycle approach is the mainstay for effective plastic waste management will lead to achieving the SDGs by 2030.