Biodegradability: What You Should Know
I am sure many of you have heard of biodegradable materials over the years. You know that materials that can biodegrade at a quicker pace are much safer for the environment, and sometimes can even be rather useful (such as in composting). You probably also know that there are items that do not biodegrade so quickly at all, and can be downright dangerous for the Earth. But, do you know which is which or what to do about them?
Here is a basic list of items that tend to end up in the trash more often than not, and how long it takes each to biodegrade. Some of them may surprise you.
Used under license from Shutterstock.com
Aluminum Cans: 200 – 500 years
Batteries: 100 years
Cardboard Boxes: 1 month
Cigarette Butts: (up to) 10 years
Cotton Rags: 1 – 5 months
Disposable Diapers: 500 – 600 years
Glass Bottles: 1 MILLION years
Leather: (up to) 50 years
Lumber: 10 – 15 years
Monofilament Fishing Line: 800 years
Milk Cartons: 5 years
Nylon Fabric: 30 – 40 years
Orange Peels: 2 – 5 weeks
Paper: 2 – 5 months
Plastic Film Containers: 20 – 30 years
Painted Wooden Stakes: 13 years
Plastic 6-pack Covers: 450 years
Plastic Bags: (up to) 500 years
Plastic Coated Paper: 5 years
Plastic Soda Bottles: FOREVER!
Rope: 3 – 14 months
Rubber Boot Soles: 50 – 80 years
Sanitary Pads: 500 – 800 years
Used under license from Shutterstock.com
Styrofoam: OVER 5000 YEARS!
Tin Cans: 50 – 100 years
Tin Foil: NEVER BIODEGRADES
Wool Clothing: 1 – 5 years
This is a very basic list, but it should give you a better idea of biodegradation. If you’ll notice, a number of the items on the list can and should be recycled, or even reused (if possible) before pitching them completely.
Another thing about these items that you may not know is: once in a landfill, they will NOT biodegrade. Rather than speeding up the biodegrading process, landfills will actually have a mummifying effect on trash and organic matter; causing it to stay in tact for longer, rather than decompose. The best thing to do? Send your unwanted trash to a proper composting or recycling facility, so that it may be dealt with or disposed of properly.
The size of landfills today plus the amount of pollution, is absolutely ridiculous. Maybe it’s because people simply don’t care, or because they are unaware of the biodegradability factors. Between plastic soda bottles being recycled into reusable products or spending all eternity in a garbage dump, I think I would prefer the former instead of the latter.
By Heidi Marshall
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: biodegradables, Pollution, Recycling
Biodegradable plastic and packaging is a modern necessity for our ever-endangered environment.
Now PLA has been used to line the indoors of Paper Cups in place of the oil based lining additional usually used, create Plastic Cups, Plates, Carrier Bags, Food Packaging and even Nappies.
Eco Pure is our proprietary blend of organic materials that does not modify the base resin to which it is added.
Thanks a lot for your information
You can find a list of wordpress blogs that mention biodegradable topics here
This blog also has information but it may help if you know french (though they also have translations available).
Here are lists of books on biodegradables and biodegradability.
Hope this stuff helps at least a little.
Could you recommend any specific resources, books, or other blogs on this topic?