School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-2025
Abstract
Plastic pollution has become a pressing environmental issue, with significant quantities of microplastics (MPs) contaminating terrestrial ecosystems. In agro-environments and soils, the abundance of MPs has been reported to range from 3.7 to 40,800 items per kilogram. Once MPs enter the soil, their accumulation can have several detrimental effects on the soil environment and ecosystems. This review summarizes current research on the biodegradation of MP-contaminated soils. The primary mechanism of MP biodegradation involves enzymatic oxidation and hydrolysis, leading to the formation of functional groups. The interaction between microorganisms and polymers involves various processes, including colonization, biofilm formation, and biodegradation. Microorganisms can adhere to polymer surfaces where they build biofilms as complex microbial communities embedded in an extracellular polymeric matrix. These biofilms facilitate microbial activity and can boost their ability to degrade polymers. The biodegradation of MPs in soil is a promising strategy to address MPs pollution. However, further research is needed to optimize degradation conditions, identify MPs-degrading microorganisms, and assess the long-term environmental impacts of biodegradation techniques. Several key factors, including pH, temperature, salinity, moisture, and oxygen content as environmental conditions, as well as specific enzyme activities, should be considered to promote biodegradation. This review also suggests future research directions to increase our understanding of this important area and develop effective strategies to mitigate MP contamination in soil ecosystems. Further research should focus on identifying new types of microbes that degrade plastics and engineering enzymes that degrade MPs.
Recommended Citation
Nguyen, Minh-Ky, Md Refat Jahan Rakib, Myung Hwangbo, and Jongsun Kim. "Microplastic accumulation in soils: Unlocking the mechanism and biodegradation pathway." Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances (2025): 100629. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hazadv.2025.100629
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Publication Title
Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances
DOI
10.1016/j.hazadv.2025.100629
Comments
© 2025 The Author(s).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/