Sunday, October 18, 2015

How Long Does It Take Trash To Decompose?

Every product, package, and food item has a life cycle. Some are recyclable, but unfortunately, some are not and end up thrown away. Even when an item is discarded, this does not mark the end of its product life. 

Whether it ends up in a landfill or illegally dumped, it takes many years for it to decompose.

The time it takes different materials to degrade and decompose vary depending on variables such as weather conditions, available air (anaerobic decomposition rate is much quicker), available sunlight (lowers degradation time), etc…, but a general guide is included below:

  • Plastic Bottles: 450 years
  • Aluminum Can: 80-200 years
  • Cigarette Butts (one of the most littered item): Up to 10 years
  • Plastic Bag: About 1000 years
  • Glass Bottle: 1 million years
  • Banana Peel: 2-5 weeks
  • Milk Jug: 500 years
  • Styrofoam Cups: At least 500 years
  • Plastic 6-Pack Ring: 450 years
  • Paper/Napkins: 2-6 weeks
  • Orange Peel: 3-6 weeks Disposable Diapers: 400-500 years
Although this list is just a sampling of commonly discarded items, many more things that are thrown into the trash take hundreds, if not thousands, of years to decompose and disintegrate. Please consider this when deciding how to handle unwanted items at the end of their life cycle.

For more information on trash and recycling visit www.wasteawaygroup.com.

greenecoservices.com
thegreenestdollar.com
aawsa.org
earth911.com
recycling.about.com

3 comments:

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