Impact of polythene on Environment

Grover Alka1, Gupta Akanksha1,

Amity Institute of Biotechnology, J3 Block, Amity University, Sector 125, Noida 201301
(U.P), India; Contact No. +91-9560274644; Email id: alkagrover@hotmail.com
Key Words: Biodegradation, Mechanism for degradation, Pyrolysis, enzymes.
Abstract
Use of polythene is increasing day by day and now it can be seen that polythene is being used
in almost every activity of life. Polythene is the most common form of plastic and made up of
organic compounds which are hazardous to environment. It has been estimated that India's
polythene demand is expected to increase by 129 % by 2023. There are various methods
which are suggested for decreasing polythene littering. In this study, environmental problems
caused by polythene are discussed along with biodegradation of polythene.
Introduction
Polythene or polyethylene is a polymer which is commonly used in our day to day life like
grocery bags, shampoo bottles, bullet proof vests etc. According to Greenpeace international
report (2014) approximate annual production of plastic in world is around 100 million tonnes
(http://www.greenpeace.org).
Polyethylene is obtained by polymerizing ethylene gas (CH2=CH2). Several kinds of
polythenes are known with most having the chemical formula (C 2H4)nH2 Polyethylene is
classified on the basis of chemical structures of polymers backbone and side chain containing
some of the important groups like acrylics, silicones, polyesters, polyurethanes. There are
various categories of polyethylene like low density polyethylene (LDPE), medium density
polythene (MDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE) and very low density polyethylene
(VLDPE) (Rivard et al. 1995). Among these LDPE is commonly used for making grocery
bags, food wrapping material, power cable sheathing and laboratory containers. LDPE is
excellently resistant to dilute and concentrated acids, ketones and vegetable oils. Versatile
nature of LPDE makes it major cause of pollution (Usha R, et al 2011). It can be concluded
from the figure 1 that India has a large share of 4% of total plastic consumed worldwide and
it has been estimated that comprehensive polyethylene demand in India is expected to mount
8.2 million tons by 2023, up from 3.6 million tons in 2013 that would be largest in Asia
(www.buisness -standard.com).

Figure 1 Per Capita plastic consumption worldwide in year 2014.

Effect of polythene on different kinds of environments
The environment has been classified mainly in to five categories i.e. aquatic, deserts, forests,
grasslands and tundra. It is extremely tragic news that polythene is showing it deleterious
effects on all major types of biomes. Total plastic waste that is polluting marine as well as
terrestrial environment is around 25 million tons, out of which 64% are synthetic plastics
(Yang J., et al 2011).

Terrestrial Ecosystem
Polythene has become a serious threat for all kinds of terrestrial ecosystems.
Urban and rural areas: In urban areas, polythene is major threat to both environment and
public hygiene. In such areas, polythenes are majorly used as shopping bags for carrying
various goods and are quite popular due to its durability. This polythene accumulates in
gutters and drains, leading overflow of drains especially in rainy season. These overflowed
drains serve as the best breeding ground for many mosquitoes carrying various deadly
microbes. In rural areas, due to accumulation of polythenes, the free flow of water is
hampered leading to depletion of fertility of soil and hence making a fertile land a barren one.
The water source in urban areas like river, serves as attraction for polythene coming from
terrestrial sources. Usually these contaminants either accumulate in estuaries due to weak
river currents or they might flow offshore if the current is strong (Galgani et al. 2000). A
study was conducted by Moore, C.J., Lattin, G.L. and Zellers, A.F. (2011) in Southern
California on two urban rivers where they used net for trapping plastic debris and after 72
hours, they found 30,500 kg of plastic out of which majority was polystyrene (71%).

Figure 2: Plastic waste generated in metro cities of India in 2013.

Figure 3: Percentage share of plastic waste at domestic as well as international airports of
New Delhi in 2014.

Figure 4: Chart showing plastic waste generated at different railway stations of Delhi in 2014.
Among all the metro cities of India Delhi is on top position for generating plastic
waste (Figure 2). Plastic waste generated at different railway stations and airports of Delhi
has been shown through pie cart (Figure 3 and 4). There are various reported cases of death
of cows in rural areas due to consumption of a polythene bag. This bag remained undigested
in its gut, thereby, leading to blockage of digestive tract (Pruter 1987).
Deserts are also affected by polythene pollution. Human intervention in desert as well as
winds is responsible for collection of significant amount of plastic trash into protected natural
areas (Zylstra 2013). Aggregation of trash poses a potential threat to desert ecosystems. In
United Arab Emirates camel and endangered desert animals are reported dead by eating
polythene bags along with other grazing animals (Terry B. 2013).
In forests and grasslands polythene bags can be very harmful to wildlife. Small
animals in search of food often get their heads caught in the polythene bags and cannot
squeeze out and die due to suffocation. Birds and small mammals may be confused and eat
polythene bags along with leftover and their intestine may get chocked. (Gregory 2009).
In Polar Regions like Arctic and Antarctic, these polythenes are consumed by
penguins and different marine animals like sea walrus, whale, etc leading to their chocking
and death. There had been a case where a platypus suffered deep wounds in body when a
plastic bag twisted around its body
(http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2008/12/plastic-bags-and-animals-
making-the-wild-safe-for-wildlife/). Even delicate flora and fauna of tundra is not safe from
polythene pollution due to increased human iinterference (Feng Sheng Hu 2014).
Aquatic Environment
Plastics not only harm terrestrial flora and fauna, it has been known to have a disastrous
effect on aquatic environment as well. (Browne et al. 2010). The threat to marine
environment is caused by marine debris (Webb et al 2013). Due to debris, there has been a
decrease in marine fauna population, either they entangled through their body or they were
ingested by fishes and birds mistaking debris to be prey (Derraik, 2002).
According to Greenpeace report (2006) around 80% of marine debris is from land and
remaining 20% is from other water bodies. Major sources for marine debris are tourist
activities at sea beaches, debris from sewer, fishing material (Corcoran et al 2009) and
wastes from ship and boats (Denuncio et al. 2011).
Not only oceans are contaminated but seabed near the coastal areas is also found to be rich in
plastic bag contamination. However, those plastics which are degraded either mechanically or
chemically are ultimately reduced to tiny pieces of the size of grain. These tiny particles are
then ingested by various small creatures and may concentrate persistent organic pollutants
(POPs) present in seas. Marine debris has affected 267 species globally out of which, 86%
includes sea turtle, 44% seabird species and 43% marine mammal species (Browne et al.
2010).
According to a study conducted in USA, out of 1033 birds collected off the coast, 55% of
them had plastic in their gut. This is due to their habit of selecting their prey on the basis of
colour, hence mistaking polythene for potential prey items (Browne et al. 2011). These
ingested plastics by blocking gastric enzyme secretion diminished feeding stimulus,
reproductive failure (David et al. 2009), reduced food uptake, injury to internal organs
(Teuten et al 2009) etc .
Polythene Disposal Methods
There is an urgent need to find out the proper method for polythene disposal. Currently four
considerable options are available viz. thermal treatment, land filling, recycling and
biodegradation. All methods have their inherent limitations.
1. Thermal treatment
Thermal decomposition of polyethylene results in evolution of harmful substances during
fires or waste burning. Breathing problems are encountered in and near those areas where
plastics are burned as it releases high amount of poisonous gases such as carbon monoxide,
chlorine, furans, dioxins, CCl4, etc. Therefore it is mainly done through incineration and
pyrolysis (Nisar et al 2011).The final products of incineration are ash and exhaust gases. It
has been estimated that the carbon footprint of LDPE or polyethylene is about 6 kg CO 2 per
kg of plastic. Per kg of polyethylene, about 6 kg carbon dioxide is created during production
and incineration (http://timeforchange.org/plastic-bags-and-plastic-bottles-CO2-
emissions). These exhaust gases contain highly toxic products: PAHs (Li et al 2001), dioxins
and furans which cause air pollution. Many investigators have studied the pyrolysis of
polyethylene (Westerhout et al 1997, Bockhorn et al 1999 and Wu et al 1993). Plasma
Pyrolysis is an effective method to destroy polythenes in an eco-friendly manner. This
method uses a plasma torch in oxygen deprived environment. This method takes place at very
high temperature (usually between 325°C - 850°C). The temperature variations during
pyrolysis cause different gases production. Thus, at low temperature, usually the gases
produced are found to be carbon dioxide, ethylene, propylene, carbon monoxide, butadiene
and methane, whereas, at high temperature along with carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and
ethylene, some additional gases produced are benzene, methane and hydrogen (Ademiluyi
and Adebayo 2007).
2. Landfilling: Landfilling has its own associated limitations as land remains unavailable for
a very long time. Otherwise the land may be utilised for agriculture and other related
activities (Webb et al 2013). Degradation rate of polythene is very slow in landfills due to
anaerobic environment. Polythene debris remain for very long time in landfill and it has been
published in a report that it will take around 500 year to breakdown in landfills
(http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2007/06/will_my_plastic_ba
g_still_be_here_in_2507.html) and leaving the land barren. Secondary environmental
pollution is a major problem of landfills. Pollutants are released in the form of leachate as
well as gases viz. toluene , benzene , xylene ethyl and trimethyl benzene. In addition to these
chemicals other estrogenic compounds include Bisphenol A (BPA), pthalate and PBB
(Polybrominated biphenyls) (Xu et al 2011) These compounds are very much harmful for
human health causing diseases related to reproductive system of mammals and different
types of cancer like prostate, ovarian and breast cancer (Yang et al 2011).

3. Recycling
Recycling of plastics involve many processes including mechanical, chemical and thermal
depolymerisation (Hopewell et al 2009). Recycling of plastics is of four types primary,
secondary, tertiary and quaternary. Primary and secondary recycling is referred as mechanical
recycling. In tertiary recycling polymer is de-polymerized to its chemical constituents (Fisher
2003). Energy is recovered from waste plastics under quaternary recycling. Bins and crates
are manufactured from recycled HDPE milk bottles and PET fibre is manufactured from
recovered PET packaging in UK (Hopewell et al 2009). LPDE can be recycled to form
products like plastic lumber, trash bags, etc. Chemical recycling recovers the petrochemical
constituents of the polymer, which can then be used to re-manufacture plastic or to make
other synthetic chemicals. But recycling is not cost effective (Patel et al. 2000). It has been
concluded by several researchers that during recycling more toxic and larger amounts of
hazardous volatile organic compounds are emitted from melted virgin and waste plastic
pellets than producing virgin plastics (Yamashita et al 2009; He et al 2015). Sometimes it
has been observed that recycling is more effective for HDPE as compared to LDPE
(Hopewell et 2009). Only 1% of total plastic waste generated is recycled as it is a costly
process and rest is dumped in dumping grounds (Central Pollution Control Board 2013).
But recycled plastics have proved to be more hazardous than virgin plastic as during
recycling it is mixed with a number of harmful colours, additives, stabilizers etc. Also plastics
cannot be recycled more than 3 times as each recycling results in decrease in strength of
plastics. At dumping grounds, it takes approximately 300 years for a plastic to naturally
degrade in environment (Central Pollution Control Board 2013). In addition to this,
plastics degraded by photo degradation degrades into very small toxic parts which ultimately
contaminate soil, water bodies and hence animals consuming them (Corcoran et al.
2009).Non recyclable plastic wastes (eg, thermostat plastic, multilayer plastics etc) generates
disposal problems (Lee et al. 1991).

BIODEGRADATION OF POLYTHENES
Previously, people used to search for ways to protect environment from plastic litter, but now
the focus has shifted to biodegrade the plastic with the help of various microorganisms and
recover value from polythene (David et al. 2009, Singh 2005). In biodegradation, strong
carbon bonds are broken down through microbial actions that reduces the strength of
polythene (as molecular weight decreases) and hence polythene gets degraded (Pruter 1987).
Polyethylene can be degraded through two ways aerobic as well as anaerobic. In aerobic
degradation oxygen acts as an electron acceptor and final products are carbon dioxide and
water (Seymour 1989). Anaerobic biodegradation occurs in absence of oxygen and therefore
microorganisms use nitrate, sulphate and iron as electron acceptor (Datta et al 1998). There
are several reported examples of plastic degrading bacteria and fungi (table1).

Bacillus Bacillus cereus Abrusci et al. (2011), Suresh et al. (2011), Aswale
(2010), Aswale and Ade (2008)

Bacillus subtilis Priyanka and Archana (2011), Abrusci et al.

(2011), Nwachukwu et al. (2010)

Bacillus sp. Kumar et al. (2007), Usha et al (2011)

Bacillus megaterium Abrusci et al. (2011)

Bacillus mycoides Seneviratne et al. (2006)

Pseudomonas Pseudomonas sp. Priyanka and Archana (2011), Aswale and Ade
(2008), Kathiresan (2003), Nanda et al. (2010),
Balasubhramanian et al (2010), Usha et al. (2011)

Pseudomonas Nwachukwu et al. (2010), Kyaw et al. (2012),

aeruginosa Aswale (2010)

Pseudomonas putida Kyaw et al. (2012), Nwachukwu et al. (2010)

Pseudomonas syringae Kyaw et al. (2012)

Pseudomonas stutzeri Sharma and Sharma (2004)

Staphylococcus Staphylococcus sp. Reddy (2008), Kathiresan (2003), Usha et al
(2011)

Staphylococcus aureus Priyanka and Archana (2011)

Staphylococcus Chatterjee et al. (2010)

epidermis

Streptococcus Streptococcus sp. Reddy (2008), Kathiresan (2003)

Streptococcus lactis Priyanka and Archana (2011)

Streptococcus aureus Aswale (2010)

Micrococcus Micrococcus sp. Kumar et al (2007), Reddy (2008), Kathiresan

(2003)

Micrococcus luteus Priyanka and Archana (2011)

Micrococcus lylae Aswale (2010)

Streptomyces Streptomyces sp. El shafei et al (1998), Usha et al (2011)

Streptomyces Lee et al (1991), Pometto et al (1992)

vinidosporus T7A

Streptomyces badius Lee et al (1991)

252

Streptomyces setonii 75 Lee et al (1991)

Vi 2

Rhodococcus Rhodococcus ruber Sivan et al (2006), Chandra and Rustgi (1997)

Rhodococcus Fontanella et al (2009), Bonhomme (2003)

rhodochrous

Proteus Proteus vulgaris Priyanka and Archana (2011)

Listeria Listeria Kumar et al (2007)

Vibrio Vibrio Kumar et al (2007)

Bravibacillus Bravibacillus Hadad et al (2005), Abrusci et al. (2011)

borstelensis

Serratia Serratia marscence Aswale and Ade (2008), Aswale (2010)

Nocardia Nocardia steroids Bonhomme et al (2003)

Arthrobacter Arthrobacter sp. Balasubramanian et al (2010)

Diplococcus Diplococcus sp. Reddy (2008)

Moraxella Moraxella sp. Reddy (2008), Kathiresan (2003)

Penicillium Penicillium sp. Priyanka and Archana (2011)

Penicillium Gilan et al. (2004)

funiculosum

Penicillium frequentans Seneviratne et al. (2006)

Penicillium pinophilum Volke-sepulveda et al. (2002)

Aspergillus Aspergillus niger Volke-sepulveda et al. (2002), Aswale (2010),

Konduri et al. (2010), Priyanka and Archana
(2011), Cawthorn (1989), Kathiresan (2003),
Gilan (2004), Reddy (2008), Nwachukwu et al.
(2010), Aswale and Ade (2011),

Aspergillus ridiculans Priyanka and Archana (2011), Reddy (2008), Usha

et al. (2011)

Aspergillus flavus Priyanka and Archana (2011), Reddy (2008), El-

Shafei (1998), Usha (2011), Konduri et al. (2010)

Aspergillus glaucus Priyanka and Archana (2011), Reddy (2008),

Kathiresan (2003), Aswale (2010), Cawthorn
(1989)

Aspergillus versicolor Pramila and Ramesh (2011)

Aspergillus spp. Pramila and Ramesh (2011)

Aspergillus oryzae Konduri et al. (2010), Konduri et al. (201z)

Aspergillus ornatus Reddy (2008)

Aspergillus cremus Reddy (2008)

Aspergillus candidus Reddy (2008)

Aspergillus nidulance Kathiresan (2003), Singh and Gupta (2014)

Aspergillus japonicus Singh and Gupta (2014)

Phanerochaete Phanerochaete Lee et al. (1991), Vasile 1993

chrysosporium

Chaetomium Chaetomium globosum Gilan (2004)

Gliocladiurn Gliocladiurn virens Gilan (2004)

Pullularia Pullularia pullulans Gilan (2004)

Mucor Mucor sp. Sing and Gupta et al (2014)

Cladosporium Cladosporium Bonhomme et al (2003)
cladosporides

Actinomycetes Rhodococcus ruber Gilan and Sivan (2013)

Table1:- Examples of polythene degrading microbes

Mechanism of action of polythene degrading enzyme
Bacteria degrade polythene in following 4 steps:-
a) Microbes attach to the surface of polythene
b) They multiply by utilizing polythene as a carbon source
c) Degradation of polythene takes place enzymatically.
Microbes can attach on hydrophilic surfaces of polythene. But due to the presence of CH2
group in polythene structure as the only group, this makes polythene surface hydrophobic.
These surfaces are made hydrophilic by initial degradation, resulting in insertion of
hydrophilic groups. As soon as microbe attaches itself onto the surface of polythene, it starts
utilizing carbon source for its growth.
Degradation of polythene occurs in 2 steps namely, primary degradation and ultimate
degradation. In primary degradation, there is formation of low molecular weight dimers or
monomers due to the cleavage of the main chain. (Laist 1997).This degradation occurs due to
secretion of some enzymes by microbes. (Moser and Lee 1992 and Azzarello and Van
Vleet 1987).
Polythene degradation is found to be quite similar to the degradation pathway followed by
ligninolytic fungi. In ligninolytic fungi like mushrooms and lignin degrading bacteria,
extracellular enzyme consist of oxidases, laccases and peroxidises which results in production
of extracellular hydrogen peroxide. Primary degradation results in production of CH 4, CO2
and H2O.
Microorganism responsible Enzyme produced References

Streptomyces sp. Veratryl alcohol Anthony et al. 1992

Wood degrading fungi Lignin peroxidase, Sangale et al. 2012

Manganese peroxidase,
phnoloxidase, laccase

Alcaligenes faecalis Polycaprolactone Oda et al. 1998

depolymerase

Table 2: Extracellular polythene degrading enzymes produced by various microorganisms

Case study on how non biodegradable polythenes are being used effectively
In 1996 a ban was enforced on use of plastic bags in Karnataka, India. This ban made two
brothers Rasool and Ahmed khan to think differently and recycle these bags and use them in
construction of roads. The polythene or plastic bags waste was collected from different
sources and was shredded into small pieces. These pieces were then kept in a bag for several
days until all moisture is drained out and then these pieces were then mixed with asphalt to
form polymerized bitumen in hot mixing plant. This polymerized bitumen increased life span
of the road especially during monsoon. (Sapna G. 2012, Guru et al. 2014, Mutiu et al.
2013)

Future Needs
There should be strict rules and regulation for limiting the use of polythene to a certain
amount. Awareness camps should be organized in every corner of the city especially in slum
areas to aware people on restricting use of polythene and to use biodegradable polythenes
only. More and more microbes which can degrade polythene should be screened so as to
know exact mechanism of degradation and to know the gene responsible for it.

Conclusion
Polythenes are used for variety of purposes like in packaging, carrying things, etc. its usage is
increasing day by day due to its properties like durability, light weight, easy to use. But its
overuse causes various problems to terrestrial as well as marine environment. It gets
accumulated in gut of animals and fishes and causes various problems like digestion problem.
Accumulation of polythene in drain holes causes overflow of drains, burning of plastic causes
breathing problem to locals living around. To overcome problems caused by polythene litter
various methods were adopted like dumping of polythene in landfills, burning them or mixing
them with bitumen to build roads so that there life is increased by 6-7 years. There are
various methods for degradation of polythene like photodegradation, biodegradation i.e.,
microbes degrade polythene by secreting enzymes on the surface of polythene.

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