Uncovering the potential of landfill leachate for biodegradation of cassava-derived plastics

Accumulation of plastic wastes in the environment forces industry to produce sustainable and biodegradable types of plastics. Our study was focused on evaluation of the landfill leachate as the environment for degradation of cassava-derived plastics (CAS). The metagenomic and ecotoxicological analysis of the landfill leachate was performed. The leachate exhibited a high ecotoxicity. A high throughput metagenomic analysis has revealed a dominant abundance of Proteobacteria (54.7 %), followed by Euryarchaeota (12.5 %). Biodegradation of CAS after the 30-day incubation in a 2 % leachate was higher in the set with agitation, as compared to static conditions, i.e., 49.9 % and 39.3 %, respectively. Regression analysis showed a high correlation between weight loss and reducing of a surface area during degradation process (R² = 0.95). The results demonstrated a high potential of the landfill leachate with enormous microbial diversity for further optimization of the biodegradation process.