Microbial and enzymatic degradation of plastics: Opportunities and constraints for plastic waste remediation.

Microbial and enzymatic degradation can effectively break down plastics, but only 10-20% of reported cases are reliably validated as true biodegradation.

• Why it matters: Addressing plastic pollution requires sustainable waste management solutions, yet current evidence often overstates degradation success due to methodological limitations and incomplete understanding.
• What they did: The review analyzes recent advances in degrading both hydrolysable and non-hydrolysable plastics, emphasizing degradation mechanisms, analytical challenges, and criteria to distinguish genuine biodegradation from surface deterioration.
• The result: This framework enables researchers to improve validation standards, advancing plastic biodegradation from preliminary screening to practical, environmentally meaningful applications.