Screening the Efficacy of a Microbial Consortium of Bacteria and Fungi Isolated from Different Environmental Samples for the Degradation of LDPE/TPS Films

In this study, a screening of the efficacy of a microbial consortium of bacteria and fungi isolated from activated sludge, river sediment, and compost for the degradation of LDPE/TPS was performed. According to the morphological and biochemical characterization, eight bacteria, Bacillus sonorensis, Bacillus subtilis, Lysinibacillus massiliensis, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus indicus, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus cereus, and Pseudomonas alcaligenes, five molds, Aspergillus sp. 1, Aspergillus sp. 2, Trichoderma sp., Rhizopus sp., Penicillium sp., and Alternaria sp., and a yeast, Candida parapsilosis, were identified. The first experiment E1 was inoculated with microorganisms isolated from activated sludge and river sediment, and E2 with microorganisms isolated from compost. In both experiments, different types of polymeric materials, low density polyethylene (E1-1 and E2-1), thermoplastic starch (E1-2 and E2-2), low density polyethylene + thermoplastic starch (E1-3 and E2-3), low density polyethylene + thermoplastic starch + styrene-ethylene-styrene (E1-4 and E2-4) were added. The obtained results, weight loss, SEM, and FTIR analysis showed that the microorganisms in both experiments were able to degrade polymeric materials. The mixed culture of microorganisms in experiments E1-2 and E2-2 completely degraded TPS (thermoplastic starch). The percent weight losses of LDPE, LDPE+20% TPS, and LDPE+20% TPS+SEBS in experiment E1 were 3.3184%, 14.1152%, and 16.0062% and in experiment E2 were 3.9625%, 20.4520% and 21.9277%, respectively. SEM microscopy shows that the samples with a LDPE matrix exhibited moderate surface degradation and negligible oxidative degradation under the given conditions. FTIR/ATR data demonstrate that degradation was more intense in E2 than in E1.