Plastics remarkably contribute to marine litter, which is raising serious concerns. Currently, little is known about the fate of most plastics entering the marine environment and their potential biodegradation rate and extent under anoxic conditions.

In this work, biodegradation of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) films by consortia enriched from marine samples (litter and water) was evaluated in anaerobic microcosms. After 7 months, three microcosms showed dense biofilms on plastic surfaces, gravimetric weight losses up to 11.7 ± 0.6%, marked decreases in thermal stability and average molecular weight of the polymer, suggesting microbial attack towards polymer chains. After 24 months, further three consortia showed the same abilities. Microbial communities analyzed at month 24 included taxa closely related to those previously reported as halogenated organic compounds degraders. The study is the first report on PVC biodegradation by marine anaerobic microbes and provides insights on potential biodegradation of the plastic film introduced into the sea by native microbes.

塑料对海洋垃圾的贡献显着，这引起了人们的严重关注。目前，对于大多数进入海洋环境的塑料的命运以及它们在缺氧条件下的潜在生物降解速度和程度知之甚少。

在这项工作中，在厌氧的微观世界中评估了从海洋样本（垃圾和水）中富集的财团对聚氯乙烯（PVC）薄膜的生物降解作用。7个月后，三个缩影在塑料表面上显示出致密的生物膜，重量损失高达11.7±0.6％，聚合物的热稳定性和平均分子量显着下降，表明微生物对聚合物链的攻击。24个月后，又有三个财团表现出相同的能力。在第24个月分析的微生物群落包括与先前报道为卤代有机化合物降解剂的那些密切相关的分类单元。这项研究是海洋厌氧微生物对PVC进行生物降解的第一份报告，它为天然微生物引入海洋的塑料薄膜的潜在生物降解提供了见解。