Biodegradation and disintegration of expanded polystyrene by land snails Achatina fulica

Song, Yang; Qiu, Rong; Hu, Jiani; Li, Xinyu; Zhang, Xiaoting; Chen, Yingxin; Wu, Wei‐Min; He, Defu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141289

Cited by 135 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…PS is a petroleum-derived thermoplastic polymer for which the annual worldwide production rate is more than 20 million tons. [105] Fossil-based styrene monomer is generally polymerized via suspension polymerization to produce PS homopolymer, which is also known as general-purpose (GP)PS. [106,107] Expanded (E)PSs, popularly known as thermocol, are produced by diffusing air into the PS homopolymer beads.…”

Section: Polystyrenementioning

confidence: 99%

Strategic Approach Towards Plastic Waste Valorization: Challenges and Promising Chemical Upcycling Possibilities

et al. 2021

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Plastic waste, which is one of the major sources of pollution in the landfills and oceans, has raised global concern, primarily due to the huge production rate, high durability, and the lack of utilization of the available waste management techniques. Recycling methods are preferable to reduce the impact of plastic pollution to some extent. However, most of the recycling techniques are associated with different drawbacks, high cost and downgrading of product quality being among the notable ones. The sustainable option here is to upcycle the plastic waste to create high-value materials to compensate for the cost of production. Several upcycling techniques are constantly being investigated and explored, which is currently the only economical option to resolve the plastic waste issue. This Review provides a comprehensive insight on the promising chemical routes available for upcycling of the most widely used plastic and mixed plastic wastes. The challenges inherent to these processes, the recent advances, and the significant role of the science and research community in resolving these issues are further emphasized.

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Section: Polystyrenementioning

confidence: 99%

Strategic Approach Towards Plastic Waste Valorization: Challenges and Promising Chemical Upcycling Possibilities

et al. 2021

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“…Significant effort has been devoted to unearthing microplastics’ effects on soil organisms and broader ecology ( Accinelli et al 2020 , Barreto et al 2020 , Lozano et al 2021 , Mueller et al 2020 , Yan et al 2021 ) as well as the overall risk they pose to soil biota ( Jacques and Prosser 2021 ). The reverse, effects of soil organisms on microplastics, are also receiving increased attention ( Ng et al 2018 , Helmberger et al 2020b , Song et al 2020 , Kwak and An 2021 ). Earthworms and springtails have been shown to disperse microplastics ( Maaß et al 2017 , Rillig et al 2017 , Zhu et al 2018 ) and may thus influence their distribution in soil.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil Invertebrates Generate Microplastics From Polystyrene Foam Debris

Helmberger

Miesel

Tiemann

et al. 2022

Journal of Insect Science

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To fully understand microplastics' impact on soil ecosystems, one must recognize soil organisms as not just passively enduring their negative effects, but potentially contributing to microplastics' formation, distribution, and dynamics in soil. We investigated the ability of four soil invertebrates, the cricket Acheta domesticus L. (Orthoptera: Gryllidae), the isopod Oniscus asellus L. (Isopoda: Oniscidae), larvae of the beetle Zophobas morio Fabricius (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), and the snail Cornu aspersum Müller (Stylommatophora: Helicidae) to fragment macroscopic pieces of weathered or pristine polystyrene (PS) foam. We placed invertebrates into arenas with single PS foam pieces for 24 h, then collected and assessed the microplastic content of each invertebrate's fecal material, its cadaver, and the sand substrate of its arena via hydrogen peroxide digestion, filtration, and fluorescent staining. All taxa excreted PS particles, though snails only to a tiny extent. Beetle larvae produced significantly more microplastics than snails, and crickets and isopods fragmented the weathered PS foam pieces more than the pristine pieces, which they left untouched. A follow-up experiment with pristine PS foam assessed the effect of different treatments mimicking exposure to the elements on fragmentation by isopods. PS foam pieces soaked in a soil suspension were significantly more fragmented than untreated pieces or pieces exposed to UV light alone. These findings indicate that soil invertebrates may represent a source of microplastics to the environment in places polluted with PS foam trash, and that the condition of macroplastic debris likely affects its palatability to these organisms.

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“…The mass reduction rates by the bacterial cultures were much slower than that occurred in the gut of the larvae, suggesting that the synergetic biodegradation occurs in the digestive systems. In addition, PS depolymerization with limited extent pattern was also observed in the digestive intestines of land snails, Achatina fulica (Song et al, 2020) and larvae of Galleria mellonella (Lou et al, 2020). Antibiotic suppression with oxytetracycline did not stop PS depolymerization in the snails, suggesting the presence of PS-degrading enzyme(s).…”

Section: Polystyrenementioning

confidence: 96%

“…In recent years, biodegradation of other petro-plastics, like PE and PS, insect larvae such as Yellow Mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) (Billen et al, 2020), Dark Mealworms (Tenebrio obscurus) (Brandon et al, 2018;Peng et al, 2019), Superworms (Zophobas atratus) (Peng et al, 2020b), Lesser Waxworms (Achroia Grisella) (Kundungal et al, 2019), and by snails (Achatina fulita) (Song et al, 2020), have been reported. Yin et al (2020) isolated two LDPE-degrading strains from the gut of T. molitor larvae, Acinetobacter sp.…”

Section: New Approaches In Pe Biodegradation By Invertebratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial and Enzymatic Degradation of Synthetic Plastics

Montazer²,

et al. 2020

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Synthetic plastics are pivotal in our current lifestyle and therefore, its accumulation is a major concern for environment and human health. Petroleum-derived (petro-)polymers such as polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyurethane (PU), polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are extremely recalcitrant to natural biodegradation pathways. Some microorganisms with the ability to degrade petro-polymers under in vitro conditions have been isolated and characterized. In some cases, the enzymes expressed by these microbes have been cloned and sequenced. The rate of polymer biodegradation depends on several factors including chemical structures, molecular weights, and degrees of crystallinity. Polymers are large molecules having both regular crystals (crystalline region) and irregular groups (amorphous region), where the latter provides polymers with flexibility. Highly crystalline polymers like polyethylene (95%), are rigid with a low capacity to resist impacts. PET-based plastics possess a high degree of crystallinity (30–50%), which is one of the principal reasons for their low rate of microbial degradation, which is projected to take more than 50 years for complete degraded in the natural environment, and hundreds of years if discarded into the oceans, due to their lower temperature and oxygen availability. The enzymatic degradation occurs in two stages: adsorption of enzymes on the polymer surface, followed by hydro-peroxidation/hydrolysis of the bonds. The sources of plastic-degrading enzymes can be found in microorganisms from various environments as well as digestive intestine of some invertebrates. Microbial and enzymatic degradation of waste petro-plastics is a promising strategy for depolymerization of waste petro-plastics into polymer monomers for recycling, or to covert waste plastics into higher value bioproducts, such as biodegradable polymers via mineralization. The objective of this review is to outline the advances made in the microbial degradation of synthetic plastics and, overview the enzymes involved in biodegradation.

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Biodegradation and disintegration of expanded polystyrene by land snails Achatina fulica

Cited by 135 publications

References 64 publications

Strategic Approach Towards Plastic Waste Valorization: Challenges and Promising Chemical Upcycling Possibilities

Strategic Approach Towards Plastic Waste Valorization: Challenges and Promising Chemical Upcycling Possibilities

Soil Invertebrates Generate Microplastics From Polystyrene Foam Debris

Microbial and Enzymatic Degradation of Synthetic Plastics

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