Plastic waste: Status, degradation and microbial management options for Africa

This paper presents a review of synthetic polymer (notably plastic) wastes profiles in Africa, their current management status, and better options. Data revealed that of the approximated 86.14 million metric tonnes and 31.5 million metric tonnes of primary polymers and plastics, respectively, and an estimated 230 million metric tonnes of plastic components imported between 1990 and 2017, about 17 million metric tonnes are mismanaged. Leading African nations on the plastic wastes generator table in increasing order are Tunisia (6.9%), Morocco (9.6%), Algeria (11.2%), South Africa (11.6%), Nigeria (16.9%), and the chief is Egypt (18.4%). The volume of plastic wastes generated in Africa directly correlates with her increasing population status, however, the current treatment options have major drawbacks (high energy and technological input, high demand for space, and creation of obnoxious by-products). Ineffective regulations, poor monitoring, and slow adoption of veritable practices by governments are responsible for the steady increase in plastic volume in the African landscapes and environments. In Nigeria, only about 9% and 12% of the total generated wastes are recycled and incinerated. The remainder bulk is either discarded into waste dumps (and a few available landfills) or natural environments. There is a paucity of standard plastic biodegradative work by African scientists, and only a few works show detection of competent synthetic plastic degrading microbes globally. Asides from the ills of possible omission of core degraders, there is a need for researchers to follow standard degradation procedures to arrive at efficient, reproducible, and generally accepted outcomes utilizable on a larger scale. Thus, metagenomic search on the vast African urban and rural plastisphere is the best isolation option.