Microbial degradation of natural and synthetic rubbers

Abstract

In today’s world, rubber has become one of the indispensable commodities due to its outstanding properties like elasticity, longevity, and wide range of applications. Natural rubber (NR) and synthetic rubber (SR) are widely used in everyday life. The staggering amount of rubber wastes generated each year and their disposal pose a harrowing threat for the environment and its ecosystem. Concerns regarding the disposal of solid polymeric wastes are expected to increase as the landfill capacity decreases. A huge fraction of solid polymeric wastes are rubber wastes, which is no more advised to be buried in land or incinerated due to the secondary pollution of soil or ambient air, respectively. These issues make the study on biodegradation of rubbers so relevant for sustainable environment. This chapter provides a review on the microbial degradation of natural rubber (NR), synthetic rubber (SR), and gutta-percha (GP) rubbers by different microbes and also in vitro disintegration of the rubbers by different enzymes.