SYDNEY, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A new study led by the University of Sydney has shown that two strains of fungi, commonly found in soil and plants, succeeded in bio-degrading polypropylene, which promoted the biological pathways for plastic waste treatment.

According to the study published in the npj Materials Degradation journal on Friday, polypropylene (PP) has raised severe environmental issues concerning its non-degradability, with a current recycling rate of only 1 percent.

Researchers utilized Aspergillus terreus and Engyodontium album to break down the hard-to-recycle plastic while focusing on pre-treatments.

After the samples of polypropylene granule (GPP), film (FPP) and metallized film (MFPP) were pre-treated by either UV, heat, or Fenton's reagent, the team fed them to the fungi, incubated for 90 days and measured the weight loss of the tested plastic to quantify the degradation efficiency.

UV and heat-treated MFPP by Aspergillus terreus exhibited "notable" results, registering 25.29 percent and 22.13 percent in weight loss, respectively, while the highest rate for heat-treated MFPP in Engyodontium album reached 27.08 percent after 90 days.

The study highlighted that the confirmed synergistic effect of pre-treatments combined with fungal degradation is an important stepping stone in designing practical biological implementations to treat PP waste and subsequently other synthetic polymer degradations at larger scales.

"Despite the massive scale of plastic production and consumption, there has been very little attention paid to plastics degradation under environmental conditions, and our understanding of how plastics can be degraded is limited," said Ali Abbas, co-author of the study and professor at the University of Sydney.

"One big question our result has raised is - what are the naturally occurring conditions which can fast track the degradation of plastics? We seek to further explore the role of biological processes offered by fungi and other microorganisms," Abbas noted.

Polypropylene is a widely-used plastic for packaging, especially for food and beverage containers.

Data from the United Nations Environment Program revealed that there are about 400 million tonnes of plastic waste produced every year. Of the 7 billion tonnes of plastic waste generated globally so far, less than 10 percent has been recycled. Enditem

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