The leakage of plastics into the environment has been shown to have several negative effects on flora and fauna. Landfilling, careless dumping and other sources of leakage such as the release of microfibres into the environment, causes the accumulation of plastics in both terrestrial and marine ecosystems ( Henry et al., 2019). Especially in Asia millions of metric tons of plastic waste are managed poorly resulting in a high likelihood of leakage into the environment ( d’Ambrières, 2019). Although the fraction of plastic that is being recycled is increasing, the vast majority ends up in the incinerator or in landfills polluting the environment, rather than being reused ( Geyer et al., 2017). Current waste management systems mostly consist of accumulation in landfills, incineration for energy recovery, and recycling. Of the almost 400 Mt of plastics produced, 40 percent is used in single-use applications, leading to a significant amount of waste ( PlasticEurope-Association of Plastics Manufacturers, 2020). Their flexibility, strength and erosion resistance allow plastics to be suitable material for a broad spectrum of applications ( Wang et al., 2018). Plastics are man-made polymers that are used for many applications. We present a framework for a standardized workflow, allowing transparent discovery and optimization of novel enzymes for efficient and sustainable plastics degradation in the future. Current methods for the identification and optimization of plastics degrading enzymes are compared and discussed. In this review, we discuss prospects and possibilities for efficient enzymatic degradation, recycling, and upcycling of plastics, in correlation with their wide diversity and broad utilization. The apparent lack of consistent approaches compromises the necessary discovery of a wide range of novel enzymes. To date, a wide range of experimental set-ups has been reported, in many cases lacking a detailed investigation of microbial species exhibiting plastics degrading properties as well as of their corresponding plastics degrading enzymes. However, the quest for novel enzymes that efficiently operate in cost-effective, large-scale plastics degradation poses many challenges. Enzymatic degradation and conversion of plastics present a promising approach toward sustainable recycling of plastics and plastics building blocks. Therefore, to complement current plastic management approaches novel routes toward plastic degradation and upcycling need to be developed. Another major drawback is the rapid accumulation of plastics into the environment causing one of the biggest environmental threats of the twenty-first century. However, these methods have severe limitations leading to the loss of valuable materials and resources. Current plastic waste management approaches focus on applying physical, thermal, and chemical treatments of plastic polymers. 2Department of Fundamental Microbiology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, SwitzerlandĪnnually, 400 Mt of plastics are produced of which roughly 40% is discarded within a year.1Molecular Biotechnology, Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands.Jo-Anne Verschoor 1, Hadiastri Kusumawardhani 2, Arthur F.

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