A Bench-Scale Reactor System for Biodegradation of Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE)

Polymers are accidentally discovered while experimenting with formaldehyde and phenols and later they are turned out to be a resourceful material ever evolved in the area of polymer science. Looking at their diverse perspectives, plastics became one of the essential materials in human society. Polymeric structure is one of the strengths of plastic that has made the material strong and durable and attained the place of leading material all over. Repetitive monomeric bonds facilitate high strength and resistivity against many environmental factors and also to biological activity, thus enhancing material's life for use and storage.

Plastics are used almost in every sector worldwide, where around 70% of the goods are made out of plastics underlining its demand for production. The chief attributes of plastic which made the material the strongest utilizer are light weight, durable, flexible, transparent, versatile nature of polymer providing exceptional abilities to stand out amongst the other materials. As the material is light weight, durable and non-reactive, it is mostly absorbed in food wrapping and packaging purpose. Providing many benefits, one over the other landed the material to gain the wide acceptance in the industries and markets. Being a globalized product, the material has an impact on every sector and at some places, its use is inevitable like in consumer packaging which nearly accounts for 42% of the global annual resin production.

Transparency and impermeable nature of packaging films facilitates three key potentials comprising conformal packaging, protected environment and easy transport. In hot-food service applications, polystyrene is primarily adopted having the property of insulation. These resins are too handy to use, replacing many materials in packaging of goods and food amenities. Materials like wood, metals and some of the building materials are even got replaced by plastics contributing almost 19% of the global production. Apart from replacing metals and wood, plastics also replaced natural fibres such as cotton, wool and silk. Plastics are extensively used in medical applications as they offer the required qualities like resistance against microbes and single use items.