How long does it take for waste plastics to degrade on their own in nature?

Updated on science 2024-08-10
21 answers
  1. Anonymous users2024-02-15

    How long does it take for waste plastics to degrade on their own in nature? This depends on what kind of plastic it is, if it is an ordinary non-degradable plastic (polypropylene.

    If you throw it in the soil, it will not degrade in this life, and some scientists have estimated that it will take about 300-400 years to completely degrade. But no one has really done such a long experiment to verify it. If it is a biodegradable plastic that is currently hot, most of them can be completely degraded within 5 years if they are thrown into the soil.

    However, it depends on what kind of biodegradable plastic is used.

    And the soil that is used is **. The degradation rate of the same plastic in different soils is also different.

    Plastics are one of the great inventions of human society. Because of its stability, low cost, strong plasticity and easy production, there is no other material that can replace it. In fact, plastic is not difficult**.

    It's just that at present, the concept of garbage classification has not yet been formed, and the corresponding national garbage classification system has not been established, which makes plastics suffer a lot in the world.

    Plastics are recyclable, such as Tetra Pak.

    ordinary milk cartons), PE plastic film (entry-grade food packaging bags) and aluminum-plastic composite film, etc. These are garbage waste in the usual sense. Processed by **.

    New products can be made. For example, Xiamen's Luhai Environmental Protection Company is mainly based on Tetra Pak and waste paper. Through processing and reprocessing at the factory, new recycled plastic can be generated.

    recycled pulp, and yoke wood (commonly known as wood plastic.

    and other environmentally friendly materials. The first benefit of recycled plastic is that it reduces the demand for virgin plastic in the market, in other words, it reduces the extraction of oil. In the process of oil extraction and refining, there is a large amount of air and water pollution.

    Second, because plastics take a long time to degrade, landfills pollute land and groundwater, and land costs are high. Incineration of plastics will produce a large number of harmful gases to aggravate air pollution, so plastic waste reduces the pressure on the environment to a large extent and improves the processing capacity of garbage.

  2. Anonymous users2024-02-14

    It takes about 100 years, and it takes a long time for plastics to be degraded, and the pollution to the environment is particularly serious.

  3. Anonymous users2024-02-13

    In nature, it takes about decades or even hundreds of years to degrade itself, and the degradation time is very long, and the harm to the social environment is very great.

  4. Anonymous users2024-02-12

    It takes hundreds of years for discarded plastics to decompose, and these plastics are harmful to the soil and some things in nature.

  5. Anonymous users2024-02-11

    It can take years, or hundreds of years, and waste plastic is very difficult to decompose, and plastic also has a bad effect on the soil.

  6. Anonymous users2024-02-10

    It takes at least a few decades or hundreds of years for plastic to degrade naturally, so we must not litter and do not damage nature.

  7. Anonymous users2024-02-09

    The degradation time of various waste plastics is different, mainly depending on the material. More than a few decades or even hundreds of years, a few short years, or a year of waste plastics landfill with the landfill will not only occupy a lot of land.

    Moreover, the occupied land has not been restored for a long time, which affects the sustainable use of land. If the waste plastic products that enter the domestic garbage are landfilled, they will not be degraded for 200 years, and it will take 1000 years to completely degrade.

    Trends:

    1. According to different uses and environmental conditions, further deepening research, and improving the formula through molecular design research, and developing punctual and controllable environmentally degradable plastics have become key research topics in many countries.

    2. Actively research and develop high-efficiency and inexpensive photosensitizers, oxidants, biological inducers, degradation promoters, stabilizers, etc., to further improve punctual controllability, rapid degradability and complete degradability after use.

    3. Accelerate the development of biodegradable plastics or ordinary plastics and starch, cellulose or inorganic materials filling, blending or alloying technology, as well as completely biodegradable plastics and natural materials coating and lamination technology as hot spots.

    4. Hydrolyzed plastics and edible plastics have attracted worldwide attention because of their special functions and uses, and have become another hot spot of environmentally adaptable materials.

    5. In order to accelerate the development of degradable plastics, countries are committed to accelerating research and establishing a unified definition, degradation mechanism, evaluation methods and standards of degradable plastics.

    6. Explore and cultivate strains that can degrade ordinary plastics, so that widely used ordinary plastics can be easily degraded after use, so as to meet the requirements of environmental protection. At the same time, great attention is paid to the cultivation of biological plants that can produce polyester, so as to reduce the cost of biodegradable plastics, which is conducive to the promotion and application.

  8. Anonymous users2024-02-08

    Plastics take a long time to decompose naturally, taking hundreds of years.

    Because plastic cannot be naturally degradable, it has become the number one enemy of mankind.

    Plastic packaging materials have the advantages of light weight, high strength, good impact resistance, transparent and moisture-proof, etc., widely used in the field of packaging, and gradually replace metal, paper, glass, leather, etc., which has played an irreplaceable role in reducing the pressure on resources and energy in our country, but its fatal disadvantage is that the natural degradation time is long, up to more than 100 years, one-time consumption is discarded, and the damage caused by white pollution to the environment is becoming more and more prominent, causing great pressure on the living environment of human beings, so, In daily life, we should pay attention to the use of plastic products to reduce environmental damage.

  9. Anonymous users2024-02-07

    Biodegradable plasticsThe general degradation time is about 180 days.

    At present, the most popular degradable materials are PLA and PBAT, which are fully biodegradable.

    Degradable plastics

    Degradable plastics refer to a class of products whose properties can meet the requirements of use, the performance remains unchanged during the shelf life, and can be degraded into environmentally harmless substances under natural environmental conditions after use. Therefore, it is also known as environmentally degradable plastic.

    There are a variety of new plastics: photodegradable plastics, biodegradable plastics, photooxidation biodegradable plastics, and carbon dioxide-based biodegradable plastics.

    Thermoplastic starch resin degrades plastics.

    Degradation of polymers refers to the process of breaking the macromolecular chains of polymerization due to chemical and physical factors. The degradation process in which polymers are exposed to environmental conditions such as oxygen, water, radiation, chemicals, pollutants, mechanical forces, animals such as insects, and microorganisms is called environmental degradation.

    Degradation reduces the molecular weight of the polymer and reduces the physical properties of the polymer material until the polymer material loses its usability, which is also known as the aging degradation of the polymer material.

    There is a direct relationship between the aging and degradation of polymers and the stability of polymers. The aging and degradation of polymers shorten the service life of plastics. To this end, since the advent of plastics, scientists have been committed to the anti-aging of such materials, that is, the research of stabilization, in order to produce highly stable polymer materials, and scientists from various countries are also using the aging and degradation behavior of polymers to compete to develop environmentally degradable plastics.

    The main application fields of decomposing plastics are: agricultural mulch film, various plastic packaging bags, garbage bags, shopping bags in shopping malls and disposable tableware.

    The above content refers to Encyclopedia - Degradable Plastics.

  10. Anonymous users2024-02-06

    The garment accessories industry is generally about 360 days.

    Descend the cover to solve the sample rock product.

  11. Anonymous users2024-02-05

    When waste plastics cannot be degraded, they will stay in nature for 100-200 years.

    Non-degradable pollutants refer to those pollutants that cannot be converted into environmentally friendly substances after chemical degradation, photochemical degradation, and biodegradation in the natural environment. The term is usually used for organic pollutants, including persistent organic pollutants and plastics, but it is also sometimes used to refer to inorganic pollutants such as lead and mercury that cannot be converted into harmless substances in the natural environment.

    Classification: Organic contaminants.

    Non-degradable pollutants usually refer to organic pollutants that are not degraded into environmentally friendly substances in the natural environment, mainly including most plastics (such as polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride) and persistent organic pollutants (such as DDT, aldrin, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls, brominated flame retardants). They usually biodegrade slowly, produce environmentally harmful or even highly toxic substances during the degradation process, and cannot ultimately be degraded into environmentally friendly substances.

    Inorganic contaminants.

    Sometimes, non-degradable pollutants also refer to inorganic pollutants that cannot be transformed into environmentally harmful substances in the natural environment (without involving the degradation process from large molecules to small molecules), including non-radioactive metal contaminants (e.g., lead, mercury) and radioactive contaminants.

  12. Anonymous users2024-02-04

    It takes more than 100-200 years for plastics to degrade.

    Waste plastics are a general term for plastics that have been used and eventually eliminated or replaced in civil, industrial and other uses. It takes 500 to 1,000 years to decay and often causes widespread pollution.

    Plastics refer to materials that can flow and form in the process of processing with resin (or direct polymerization with monomers in the processing process) as the main component and additives such as plasticizers, fillers, lubricants, and colorants as auxiliary components. Plastic is a synthetic polymer compound that can be freely changed.

  13. Anonymous users2024-02-03

    The degradation time required for various waste plastics is different, mainly because of different materials, and there are no statistics on this specific data, more than decades or even hundreds of years, short years, or less than a year. It takes about 200 years for plastic bags to rot when buried in the ground and they heavily contaminate the soil. Degradable waste plastics will not only occupy a large amount of land with landfill, but also the occupied land will not be restored for a long time, which will seriously affect the sustainable use of land.

    into household waste.

    If the waste plastic products are landfilled, they will not be degraded for 200 years, and it will take 1000 years to completely degrade.

    The so-called "white pollution" is an image of people polluting the environment with plastic waste. It refers to the use of polystyrene.

    Polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride.

    All kinds of domestic plastic products made of polymer compounds are discarded as solid waste after use, and are discarded as solid waste because of random littering and difficult to degrade and dispose of, so as to cause the phenomenon of serious pollution of urban environment. Among the "white trash", pollution is the most obvious and the most troublesome.

    The strongest reaction from the masses is the waste plastic packaging bags and disposable plastic fast dishes that are all over the city streets.

    The degradation time of plastic products currently used in China usually takes at least 200 years. The waste agricultural film and plastic bags in the farmland remain in the field for a long time, which will affect the absorption of water and nutrients by crops, inhibit the growth and development of crops, and reduce crop yields. If livestock eats plastic film, it can cause digestive diseases and even death of livestock.

    We should minimise the use of single-use plastic and paper cutlery. Any disposable tableware is not only not good for environmental protection, but also the biggest waste of resources. In our daily lives, we should not rely too much on plastic bags.

    In the store, it is completely possible to use one or two plastic bags to classify the goods, and the weight of the goods is completely within the tolerance range of the bag, but some customers insist on taking one or two more bags.

    Most consumers take supermarket plastic bags home as garbage bags, causing secondary pollution to the environment after discarding. Therefore, we should refuse to use plastic bags to buy groceries or hold food, and use vegetable baskets or cloth bags to avoid disposable use and reduce environmental pollution. You can use your own stainless steel or plastic lunch box to hold food, which is hygienic and environmentally friendly, and will not cause harm to the body.

  14. Anonymous users2024-02-02

    In the process of degradation, waste plastics will react with some substances in the soil, so they will be degraded. It will take at least hundreds of years for it to degrade on its own. Perhaps this will cause greater damage, but it will also cause more serious pollution to the geology and damage the structure of the soil.

  15. Anonymous users2024-02-01

    It can be chemically degraded, and it takes decades or even hundreds of years to degrade itself. It will have a very large impact on the earth and is likely to lead to the destruction of the ecological environment.

  16. Anonymous users2024-01-31

    Waste plastics are buried in the ground for many years, thus degrading themselves; The time of self-degradation is different according to the different materials, so the degradation time is also different, and some take decades or hundreds of years; Waste plastic can deteriorate the environment and affect the growth of crops.

  17. Anonymous users2024-01-30

    Most of them are degraded by some chemicals, and it takes at least 200 years for self-degradation to take about 200 years, which will bring serious pollution to the environment, leading to environmental problems and the death of animals and plants.

  18. Anonymous users2024-01-29

    Waste plastic is thrown into the soil, and it can be degraded by air, water, and temperature, and it will take several years for it to degrade on its own, which will bring garbage pollution to the ball.

  19. Anonymous users2024-01-28

    It takes decades or even hundreds of years, there is no way to accelerate the degradation, and it takes a long time to be able to slowly degrade, so the harm to the environment is very great.

  20. Anonymous users2024-01-27

    It takes a long time to be able to do it, and the best way is to add some chemicals to it, so that it can have a degradation effect.

  21. Anonymous users2024-01-26

    Generally speaking, plastics will not be degraded, it will take at least a few decades to be degraded a little, and there is currently no good way to degrade plastics, so we must do a good job of saving every day.

Related questions
11 answers2024-08-10

Loosen the soil and decompose some organic matter.

11 answers2024-08-10

If the leopard is not too hungry, it will not be, it will hide when it sees people, but if it is very hungry, it will pounce on people, and as for whether you can ride or not, you have to lecture you.

16 answers2024-08-10

The dragon sucks the water "to the **? If it's in the ocean, is it freshwater or saltwater? >>>More

8 answers2024-08-10

1."Blue butterflies? Purple butterflies? ”

Iris is an ancient plant, and it is said that the petals of this plant were a bit like the tail feathers of an iris. >>>More

6 answers2024-08-10

In nature, there are three rare types of clouds: milky clouds, Altocumulus clouds, and perforated clouds. >>>More