Isolation, Screening, and Morphological Characterization of Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE)-Degrading Fungi from the Waste Yards

Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) is one of the most popular and least biodegradable synthetic polymers, and polymer manufacturing plants generate plastic waste that needs more serious study as a bioprospecting location for LDPE degrading fungi. In total, seven locations (which include both polyethen factories’ waste dump sites and reference zones polluted by polymers) were sampled for indigenous soil fungi by using serial dilution and enrichment methods. The results of clear-zone and LDPE film loss tests showed that the most abundant isolate from the polymers factory dump had unbranched and erect septate conidiophores with globose vesicles with biseriatephialides and chains of dark brown/black coarsely roughened conidia typical for the genus Aspergillus. In the preliminary quantitative screening, this isolate (F1) showed 23.79 ± 1.52% LDPE film loss after the incubation period of 30 days which corresponds to the literature data for LDPE degrading members of the family Aspergillus recorded elsewhere. Three more isolates (F2-F4) were also subject to the same clear-zone and weight-loss tests showing further evolution of the results.