Single-use facial masks which are predominantly made out of polypropylene is being used and littered in large quantities during post COVID-19 situation. Extensive researches on bioremediation of plastic pollution on soil led to the identification of numerous plastic degrading microorganisms. These organisms assimilate plastic polymers as their carbon source for synthesizing energy. Pseudomonas fluorescens (PF) is one among such microorganism which is being identified to biodegrade plastic polymers in controlled environment. The natural biodegradation of facial mask in soil-like fraction collected from municipal waste management site, bioaugmentation of the degradation process with Pseudomonas fluorescens, biostimulation of the soil with carbonless nutritional supplements and combined bioaugmentation with biostimulation process were studied in the present work. The study has been conducted both in controlled and in natural condition for a period of 12 months. The efficiency of the degradation was verified through FTIR analyses using carbonyl index, bond energy change, Loss in ignition (LOI) measurement along with CHNS analyses of residual substances. The analysis of results reported that carbonyl index (in terms of transmittance) was reduced to 46% of the control batch through the inclusion of PF in natural condition. The bioaugmented batch maintained in natural condition showed 33% reduction of LOI with respect to the control batch. The unburnt carbon content of the residual matter obtained from the furnace were analysed using CHNS analyser and indicated the lowest carbon content in the same bioaugmented batch. In this study, an attempt is made to verify the feasibility of enhancing biodegradation of single-use facial mask by bioaugmentation of soil-like fraction available in solid waste management park with Pseudomonas fluorescens under natural condition. CHNS and FTIR analysis assures the biodegradation of plastic waste in the soil-like fraction using Pseudomonas fluorescens under both controlled and natural environmental condition.

Graphical abstract

中文翻译：

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将荧光假单胞菌纳入城市固体废物管理园区的类土壤部分中，以增强塑料生物降解能力

在 COVID-19 疫情过后，主要由聚丙烯制成的一次性口罩被大量使用和丢弃。对土壤塑料污染生物修复的广泛研究导致了许多塑料降解微生物的鉴定。这些生物体吸收塑料聚合物作为合成能量的碳源。荧光假单胞菌(PF) 是此类微生物之一，已被鉴定可在受控环境中生物降解塑料聚合物。本工作研究了从城市废物管理场所收集的类土壤部分中面膜的自然生物降解、荧光假单胞菌降解过程的生物强化、无碳营养补充剂对土壤的生物刺激以及生物强化与生物刺激过程相结合。该研究在受控和自然条件下进行了 12 个月。通过使用羰基指数、键能变化、烧失量 (LOI) 测量的 FTIR 分析以及残留物质的 CHNS 分析，验证了降解效率。结果分析表明，在自然条件下，通过添加 PF，羰基指数（以透光率计）降低至对照批次的 46%。与对照批次相比，保持在自然条件下的生物增强批次的 LOI 降低了 33%。使用 CHNS 分析仪分析从炉中获得的残留物的未燃烧碳含量，结果表明同一批次生物强化中碳含量最低。本研究试图验证在自然条件下利用荧光假单胞菌对固体废物管理园区中的类土部分进行生物强化来增强一次性面膜生物降解性的可行性。 CHNS 和 FTIR 分析确保在受控和自然环境条件下使用荧光假单胞菌对类土壤部分中的塑料废物进行生物降解。

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