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Biodegradability: What You Should Know

Posted by Priscilla in Pollution, Recycling, Nov 2nd, 2009, 2

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.

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

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

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Tags: biodegradables, Pollution, Recycling