Harnessing synthetic microbial biotechnology for efficient plastic waste upcycling

Plastics have become indispensable in various industries today, but their extensive use has resulted in a severe environmental crisis—plastic waste accumulation. Traditional methods of plastic waste management are insufficient, facing persistent pitfalls, such as overall material downgrading and release of hazardous microplastics and chemicals into the environment. Plastic upcycling, on the contrary, is gaining prominence in converting plastic waste into valuable chemicals and materials in an eco-friendly manner. The current project presents an innovative approach to plastic waste upcycling: employing green bio/mechano/chemical technologies for the hydrolytic degradation of plastic polymers into oligomers and their constituent building blocks, is followed by the creation of microbial cell factories capable of producing industrially relevant compounds from these plastic-derived feedstocks. Successful microbial upcycling hinges on efficient carbon assimilation from plastic feedstocks and the presence of functional intracellular biosynthetic pathways to generate valuable bioproducts. To achieve this, a wide variety of microorganisms with natural capabilities for these processes are identified through bioprospecting, and synthetic biology is employed to engineer or enhance the other necessary functions. Alternatively, some well-established microbial hosts including Bacillus spp., Pseudomonas spp. or Yarrowia spp. serve as suitable chassis. By integrating these advanced methodologies, we aim to create sustainable and efficient microbial systems for plastic waste valorization. Our ultimate goal is to establish a research and innovation hub in Synthetic Microbial Biotechnology that would advance scientific knowledge, raise public awareness, promote environmental protection, and boost economic development, all the while minimizing humanity’s reliance on finite fossil fuel resources.