Bioplastic: An accost towards sustainable development

Abstract

In the current era, plastic has become a global environmental menace affecting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Regular plastic resilient nature towards decomposition, and it pollutes the environment. Conventional plastic is widely used in various industrial setups with no alternate substitute available. The quest to find an alternate solution to the emerging problem development of bioplastic that is eco-friendlier and adds no pollution to the environment has been much focussed. Bioplastic is plastic synthesized from renewable biomass sources rather than petroleum origin. The development of bioplastic of microbial origin will be a promising innovation to keep our world plastic-free and promote sustainability. It can be degraded easily and gets broken down into carbon dioxide, biomass, and water rapidly. The present reviews highlight the sources of microbial-derived bioplastic, polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), extraction methodologies, optimization strategies to improve yield, degradation, application areas, present challenges, and prospects in production. We have also provided a brief insight into gene and gene clusters responsible for bioplastic production. Overall, the article will provide a comprehensive update on bioplastic to help mitigate our current problem associated with conventional plastic usage.