Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) Degradation by Malaysian Rhodococcus spp. Using Weight Reduction Test

As known, plastic accumulation worldwide is unbearable and becoming a huge environmental threat as they are very hard to be degraded. Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) is one of most common material used to produce plastic. This paper presents the investigation of the ability of twenty-three Malaysian Rhodococcus isolates in degrading low-density polyethylene (LDPE) through weight reduction test. Shake-flask incubation was performed for the investigation. Through the study, all isolates showed the ability to degrade the LDPE supplemented in the culture media but at different degradation rate. Among the 23 isolates, Rhodococcus UCC0018 demonstrated the highest degradation with 8.69 % of LDPE weight reduction. This finding shows the promising potential to explore this bacteria isolate as an agent for plastic waste biological treatment.