Exploring the Potential of the Native Microbial Consortium in Municipal Organics Composts for Biodegradation of Plastic Wastes

Abstract

One of the biggest challenges to the compost industries is plastic contamination. Microorganisms have been reported to have the potential to decompose plastics. A research using next generation amplicon sequencing was conducted to study the microbial diversity and structure of compost piles ranging in age between 2 and 10 years from four compost facilities within Nova Scotia. Five different compost with partially decomposed plastics were randomly collected from compost piles at each location. Additionally, bulk compost samples within 10-cm radius around the sampled partially decomposed plastics were also collected. The bacterial phyla: Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria and fungi Ascomycota were abundant across all facilities. Our result indicated significant differences in compost microbiomes within compost facilities, which might be related to compost chemical parameters, age of piles and feedstock. However, the presence of plastics in compost had no significant effect on the structure of microbial community the emphasizing inert nature of plastic.