The large-scale manufacturing of plastics for consumer products has contributed significantly to the pollution of our ecosystems, as well as having created a potential health crisis due to the recently reported accumulation of microplastics in the tissues of humans and animals.1 While select plastics exhibit biodegradation, their rates are negligible for countering the massive and constant influx of waste into the environment. To identify and isolate microorganisms that could be engineered for improved kinetics in the breakdown of a broad spectrum of plastics, we have initiated a bioprospecting approach in which soil samples in the Topeka, Kansas area are being screened for plastic-degrading capability. Preliminary studies have largely focused on developing a soil-burial assay for demonstrating degradation in unprocessed soil samples and then using degradation positive soil samples as source material for the extraction and isolation of the causative microbe(s).