Asian Journal of Environment & Ecology

Plastic waste pollution poses significant challenges and harm to both the environment and human health. Plastics accumulate in the environment and recent researches are focused on developing effective eco-friendly biological process to degrade and remove them. It is on this premise that this preliminary assessment of the ability of Spent Mushroom Substrate (SMS) to degrade plastics by weight parameter technique was carried out. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was dried at 24°C for 3 days and afterwards cut into bits of 0.06g. These were later immersed in conc. HCl and incubated in microcosm (micro boxes) containing 400g weathered SMS. These boxes were kept in humid dark environment and samples were collected and analyzed after 30 and 60 days. The results revealed that the SMS had significant effect on weight parameters after 30 and 60 days. Microcosm which had an initial weight of 1.20g was biodegraded to 0.16g and individual piece of the plastic in the box with initial weight of 0.06g decreased to 0.04g after 30 days incubation in SMS. Further incubation for 60 days resulted in the decrease of plastic in the box from 1.20g to 0.02g and individual piece from 0.06g to 0.008g. The control maintained the initial weight till the end of the experiment. This is an indication that the mushroom mycelia in the SMS may have had an interface with the plastic polymer. And this seem to be a promising ecofriendly alternative to deal with plastic waste pollution.