The disclosure relates to methods for degrading and/or removing pollutants comprising a phenol, aniline, a hydrocarbon, or a combination thereof, in a waste material. Methods include providing a viable corn plant expressing a fungus-derived recombinant manganese peroxidase in seeds of the corn plant, growing the corn plant, harvesting the seeds, and contacting one or more composition(s) comprising (1) at least a portion of the seeds, and (2) a peroxide or a peroxide source with the waste material comprising the pollutant to remove or degrade the pollutant.

A method for enhancing the degradation performance of lignin-degrading bacteria Erwinia sp. QL-Z3 and a culture medium for culturing the bacteria. The rate of degradation of an Erwinia sp. QL-Z3 strain to lignin is optimized from 14.23% before optimization to 25.01%. Under the conditions that the initial pH value of the culture medium is 8, the nitrogen source is NH.sub.4NO.sub.3, and the addition amount of lignin is 3 g/L, the activity of an LiP enzyme can be optimized to 371.00 U/L, which is 3.53 times that before optimization. When the initial pH value of the culture medium is 9.5, the nitrogen source is NH.sub.4NO.sub.3, and the concentration of lignin is 2.5 g/L, the activity of MnP and Lac enzymes can be optimized to 839.50 U/L and 219.00 U/L, respectively, which are 3.18 and 2.84 times that before optimization.