Plastics are usually made up of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) that serve as the environmental nuisance. The recalcitrant nature of plastics is a huge concern, whereas the increasing demand has made it difficult to handle the plastic waste that eventually leads to plastic pollution. In recent years, due to increasing demand and high pressure for its safe disposal, plastic biodegradation has gained a lot of attention. In the current study, four bacterial strains were isolated from the solid-waste dumpsites of Faisalabad, Pakistan, using enrichment culture technique. The isolated bacterial strains were capable of growing on media having polystyrene as the sole carbon source. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of the isolated strains Serratia sp., Stenotrophomonas sp. and Pseudomonas sp. were identified as the potential strains for the biodegradation of LDPE. Serratia sp. resulted in 40% weight loss of the LDPE plastic pieces after 150 days of treatment. Stenotrophomonas sp. and Pseudomonas species resulted in 32 and 21% weight loss of the treated piece of plastics (LDPE), respectively. Polyethylene pieces were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis before and after biodegradation. The FTIR spectra indicated that the isolated bacterial strains have a good potential to degrade LDPE. Future studies are required to investigate the bacterial genetic makeup, mechanisms of LDPE biodegradation and the factors that can enhance the biodegradable characteristics of these indigenously isolated bacterial strains.

塑料通常由作为环境公害的低密度聚乙烯 (LDPE) 制成。塑料的顽固性是一个巨大的问题，而不断增长的需求使得处理最终导致塑料污染的塑料废物变得困难。近年来，由于需求的增加和对其安全处置的高压，塑料的生物降解得到了广泛的关注。在目前的研究中，使用增菌培养技术从巴基斯坦费萨拉巴德的固体废物垃圾场分离出四种细菌菌株。分离的细菌菌株能够在以聚苯乙烯为唯一碳源的培养基上生长。基于分离菌株Serratia sp., Stenotrophomonas的 16S rRNA 基因测序和系统发育分析sp。和假单胞菌属。被确定为 LDPE 生物降解的潜在菌株。沙雷氏菌 经过 150 天的处理后，LDPE 塑料件的重量减轻了 40%。窄养单胞菌属 和假单胞菌物种导致处理过的塑料片 (LDPE) 的重量分别减少 32% 和 21%。聚乙烯片在生物降解前后通过傅立叶变换红外光谱 (FTIR) 分析进行表征。FTIR 光谱表明分离的细菌菌株具有良好的降解 LDPE 的潜力。未来的研究需要调查细菌的基因组成、LDPE 生物降解的机制以及可以增强这些本地分离的细菌菌株的可生物降解特性的因素。