Lesson Thirty-Four: Plastic Breakdown Rates
Have you ever thought about the lifespan of the plastic you use?
Like, you might only use that water bottle for 1 hour, but once it makes its way to the landfill, it stays there for HUNDREDS of years. Think of the sad little pile of all of your discarded water bottles that will outlive you and your grandchildren’s grandchildren.
I don’t know about you, but that keeps me UP at night. Our society is conditioned into not thinking about the permanency of our waste. In fact, we’re REALLY good at not thinking or knowing much about our garbage.
That’s what I’m hoping we’ll cover today.
Many plastics are defined as non-degradable, meaning they fail to decompose and instead break down into smaller and smaller particles.
Let’s look at some of the biggest culprits and see if you can guess how long it takes for them to fully disintegrate.
Here are a few more.
Fishing Line = 600 Years
Beer Plastic Rings = 400 Years
Aluminum Can = 200 Years
Glass Bottle = Never. Like, ever ever.
This is just one of the many reasons why we need to have effective municipal recycling programs.
Right now, a lot of our waste gets diverted to the landfill because most of our recyclables don’t pass the contamination rate (aka they're too dirty). Check out Lesson 2: Recycling for more info.
But we’re going to cover that in the “Recycling Refresher” lesson on Oct 18. Stay tuned. 😉
I hope this lesson shines a light on the permanency of plastic and how some of your plastic waste will outlive your great-great-grandchildren’s grandchildren.
If you have any questions about the lesson or topic, let me know! I LOVE hearing from you! 💚
