The large diversity of chemical substances present in air, water, or soil makes it necessary tostudy their mutual impact on the effectiveness of microbiological decomposition ofcontaminants. This publication presents the results of the studies aimed at evaluating the effect of two biogenic heavy metals - zinc and copper - on the phenol biodegradation by the Stenotrophomonas maltophilia KB2 strain. The tests were carried out for concentrations ofmetals significantly exceeding the legally permitted wastewater values: for zinc up to13.3 g·m ^-3, and copper up to 3.33 g·m ^-3. In the tested metal concentration range, phenol biodegradation by the S. maltophilia KB2 strain was not significantly influenced by theintroduced dose of zinc. While the presence of copper inhibited both biomass growth andsubstrate degradation. Kinetic data of metal and phenol mixtures were analyzed and very goodcorrelations were obtained for the proposed equations. An equation consistents with the Hanand Levenspiel model was proposed for the system S. maltophilia KB2-phenol-copper, whilean equation consistents with the Kai model for the system St. maltophilia KB2-phenol-zinc. The simultaneous presence of Zn and Cu ions in the culture resulted in a stronger inhibition ofphenol biodegradation.

Plastics have become indispensable in everyday life due to their properties. For this reason, the accumulation of polymer waste in the natural environment is becoming a serious global problem. The aim of the research was to isolate microorganisms capable of biodegrading plastics. The studies focused on the biodegradation of low-density polyethylene as the most common polymer. Seven and five bacterial strains were isolated from the landfill and compost, respectively. The morphological and biochemical characteristics of the isolates were determined. These isolates were able to survive in an environment where the only carbon source was LDPE, but no increase in biomass was obtained. However, analysis of the spectra obtained by the ATR-FTIR method showed the formation of chemical changes on the polymer surface. Bacterial biofilm formation was visualized by scanning electron microscopy. The toxicity of plastic biodegradation products in a liquid environment was tested and their safety for plants was confirmed. However, these biodegradation products have acute lethal toxicity for the Daphnia magna.
LDPE films were pre-treated with H ₂O ₂, HNO ₃, or heat. The biodegradation of HNO ₃-treated LDPE by isolated bacteria was the most significant. The weight loss was approximately 8%, and 6%, for landfill and compost-isolated bacterial strains, respectively.