Reading that an item takes eleventy snazzillion years to break down in the environment makes for great attention grabbing stuff when writing articles on green living, but the more I research various related topics, the more I find differences in estimations.
A lot of this is to do with the fact that decomposition is very dependent on the environment where the material is decomposing. For example, look at the difference between how fast steel rusts (a form of decomposition) in a humid salt air environment such as the coast vs. a dry environment like a desert.
Those are a couple of issues to bear in mind when reading statistics on how X or Y material breaks down. “Break down” is really a vague term and there’s also a big difference in the terms, biodegradable, degradable and compostable; not to mention the types of residues they leave behind, some of which can be toxic. It’s another good reason to recycle where we can, plus recycling energy savings for most types of waste are significant.
Click here to see a list of common items and how long they take to “break down” in the environment.