Biocatalysis in the Degradation of Synthetic Polymers

Abstract

Waste from the production and use of synthetic polymers is a serious problem. The development of enzymatic and microbial biocatalysts capable of degrading hard-to-decompose polymers seems to be one of the promising and environmentally oriented solutions to this problem. A possibility of combining biocatalysts (BCs)—enzymes and microbial cells—with metal catalysts is considered as a promising basis for the development of new hybrid chemobiocatalytic processes intended for the effective degradation of synthetic polymers (SPs).