FUTA’s Don Olaniyi prescribes biodegradable plastics to tackle pollution

A senior lecturer in the Department of Microbiology, Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), Dr. Oladipo Olaniyi has prescribed an eco-friendly biodegradable plastic from microbial sources for developing a sustainable plastics economy as an antidote to counteract the effects of pollution caused by non-degradable-plastics.

It is predicted that if current plastic production and waste management trends continue, 12 billion tons of plastic waste will be in landfills or the natural environment and there may be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.

In his latest research, Olaniyi, an expert in microbial plastic biotechnology explored bacteria from plastic-dominated dump sites for biodegradable plastics production on some low-cost agricultural wastes aiming at subsidizing the cost of producing them and as well as finding means of obtaining the same quantity and quality of plastics comparable with those produced from expensive industrial sugars.

Olaniyi who is a current European Union (EU) Marie Curie Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands believed this would variably mitigate the impact of environmental pollution caused by these agricultural wastes while being utilized for eco-friendly bio-plastics production against increasing and highly pollutant synthetic-petroleum based, non-renewable plastics.

He said that this could form an important aspect of the industrial revolution in Nigeria. According to him, the research revealed that the bacteria produced appreciable amounts of biodegradable plastics on low-lost agricultural wastes comparable with expensive industrial-grade sugars after 72 hours of cultivation.

Olaniyi advocated biodegradable plastics from microbial sources to tackle fossil fuel plastic pollution utilizing cheap and readily available agricultural wastes such as cassava and potato wastes as substitutes to the expensive synthetic carbon substrates for their robust industrial production.

He said: “The accumulation of recalcitrant plastics from fossil fuels is a global menace but most prominent in Nigeria. The deleterious environmental impact of plastic pollution is felt in both Nigerian urban and rural areas littered with single-use plastics and other plastic wastes.

“It is predicted that a single non-degradable plastic waste could take over 1000 years to decay naturally, thus raising public concern over the detrimental impact on terrestrial and marine environments.

“This constitutes an unpleasant or ugly sight in a public place, degrades the environment, and obstructs wastewater from flowing through pipes and drainages, and if this is not urgently addressed could lead to more flood disasters leaving millions of Nigerians displaced and homeless, and cause loss of lives, properties and source of livelihood. For instance, residents of Ibadan in Oyo State, Nigeria are yet to recover from the traumatic experience of Ogunpa flood disaster 40 years after as the losses were estimated at over N300 million and over 500 lives were lost in the incident.

“The limitless hazards affiliated with plastic wastes accumulation due to rapid urbanization threatens the ecosystem, public health and marine life. The menace is worsened by inappropriate plastic waste disposal systems. In Nigeria, plastic wastes from domestic and industrial activities are discarded in open spaces flowing gutters and water bodies leaving water sources contaminated and unsafe for human consumption. Burning, a major way of dealing with these wastes could be costly, releasing toxic chemicals into the atmosphere and causing respiratory illnesses, and skin irritation.

While accumulation of plastic wastes in marine environments leaves approximately one million marine life dead yearly. Contamination of agricultural soil threatens Nigeria’s food security taking a growing toll on farmers.