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Degradation of Plastic in Environment and Its Implications with Special Reference to Aromatic Polyesters

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Handbook of Environmental Materials Management

Abstract

Plastic accumulation in the environment is of global concern due to its increase in consumption, recalcitrant nature, and type of material used for its manufacturing. Aromatic polyester such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one of the synthetic plastic which is frequently used in packaging industry, yarn industry, tape recorders, and videos. Plastic bottles have been expanded widely due to high resistance against any breakage, temperature, and having cheaper price in comparison with other packaging materials like metals and glass. This chapter aim is to present a brief description of the PET, its chemistry, synthesis, and commercial manufacturing. Furthermore, plastic pollution and its environmental impact, its levels in different environment, and its conventional handling methods have been discussed. In addition, this chapter also covers the mechanism and methods of PET waste recycling using different catalyst, microbial degradation methods, and its proposed pathways.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

    Nisha Gaur, Dilip Brunwal, Rekha Singh & S. S. Maitra

  2. Division of Seed Science and Technology, ICAR, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India

    Ravish Chowdhary

Authors
  1. Nisha Gaur
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  2. Ravish Chowdhary
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  3. Dilip Brunwal
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  4. Rekha Singh
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  5. S. S. Maitra
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nisha Gaur .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Chemistry and EVSC, New Jersey InstTech, 151 D Tiernan-NJIT Dept. of Chemistry and EVSC, Newark, NJ, USA

    Chaudhery Mustansar Hussain

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA

    Chaudhery Mustansar Hussain

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Gaur, N., Chowdhary, R., Brunwal, D., Singh, R., Maitra, S.S. (2020). Degradation of Plastic in Environment and Its Implications with Special Reference to Aromatic Polyesters. In: Hussain, C. (eds) Handbook of Environmental Materials Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58538-3_176-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58538-3_176-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-58538-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-58538-3

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