Abstract An increasing production of natural rubber (NR) products has led to major challenges in waste management. In this study, the degradation of rubber latex gloves in a mineral salt medium (MSM) using a bacterial consortium, a mixed culture of the selected bacteria and a pure culture were studied. The highest 18% weight loss of the rubber gloves were detected after incubated with the mixed culture. The increased viable cell counts over incubation time indicated that cells used rubber gloves as sole carbon source leading to the degradation of the polymer. The growth behavior of NR-degrading bacteria on the latex gloves surface was investigated using the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The occurrence of the aldehyde groups in the degradation products was observed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy analysis. Rhodococcus pyridinivorans strain F5 gave the highest weight loss of rubber gloves among the isolated strain and posses latex clearing protein encoded by lcp gene. The mixed culture of the selected strains showed the potential in degrading rubber within 30 days and is considered to be used efficiently for rubber product degradation. This is the first report to demonstrate a strong ability to degrade rubber by Rhodococcus pyridinivorans.

Background: The growing problem of environmental pollution caused by synthetic plastics has led to the search for alternative materials such as biodegradable plastics. Of the biopolymers presently under development, starch/natural rubber is one promising alternative. Several species of bacteria and fungi are capable of degrading natural rubber and many can degrade starch. Results: Streptomyces coelicolor CH13 was isolated from soil according to its ability to produce translucent halos on a mineral salts medium, MSM, supplemented with natural rubber and to degrade starch. Scanning electron microscope studies showed that it colonized the surfaces of strips of a new starch/natural rubber biopolymer and rubber gloves and caused degradation by forming holes, and surface degradation. Starch was completely removed and polyisoprene chains were broken down to produce aldehyde and/or carbonyl groups. After 6 weeks of cultivation with strips of the polymers in MSM, S. coelicolor CH13 reduced the weight of the starch/NR biopolymer by 92% and that of the rubber gloves by 14.3%. Conclusions: This study indicated that this bacterium causes the biodegradation of the new biopolymer and natural rubber and confirms that this new biopolymer can be degraded in the environment and would be suitable as a ‘green plastic’ derived from natural sources.

A total of 92 isolates of the purple non sulphur photosynthetic bacteria (PNSB) were isolated from 23 samples of wastewater obtained from rubber sheet manufacturing processes from various places of southern, Thailand. The isolate DK6 had the best potential for use in wastewater treatment as it can out-compete indigenous strains of PNSB when grown with them under conditions of microaerobic-light conditions. The isolate DK6 was identified as being most closely allied to Rhodopseudomonas blastica. The optimal pH and temperature for cell growth were between 6.5-7.5 and 30ºC, respectively. Optimum growth of DK6 was obtained after supplementing the wastewater from a latex rubber sheet processing plant with 0.50% (NH4)2SO4 and 1 mg/L nicotinic acid under conditions of microaerobic-light (3000 lux). Using these optimum conditions for growth, indigenous microorganisms reduced the initial chemical oxygen demand (COD) of the wastewater from 7,328 to 3371 mg/L a reduction of 54% and the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) (initial BOD 4967 mg/L) by 70%. Using the same conditions and either a pure culture of DK6 or a mixed culture (DK6 plus indigenous microorganisms) a reduction of 90% of both COD and BOD was achieved. Chemical analysis of the cultures after treatment of the enriched wastewater shows that the protein content of the pure DK6 was 65.2% of the dry weight, and in mixed culture the protein content was 66.7%. Hence, single cell protein (SCP) may be a possible bi- product of the treatment process.