Trash Talk

Garbage is either biodegradable or non-biodegradable. Biodegradable means that it will decay and can become soil. Yes, soil! That is all soil is anyway — decayed plants and animals. Biodegradable items are plants, plant parts, animal waste, and parts of animals, like hair, skin and muscles. Bones too, although they may take a lot longer to degrade. Paper is a good example of a good biodegradable material. It came from trees, so it falls into the “plant parts” category. If you bury a piece of paper in the flowerbed in your back yard, it will decay and in approximately three months’ time, you will not be able to find it.

Non-biodegradable garbage is not going to decay ever or the decay will take thousands of years. These items are usually made from chemicals or minerals that do not break down. Aluminum foil could be buried next to that piece of paper in your back yard and it will look almost like it did the day it was buried — while the piece of paper will be decaying or maybe even gone depending upon how much time you gave the process. Plastic, glass, rubber, and aluminum cans are just a few examples of non-biodegradable trash.

How long will it take to decay different type of garbage?

Glass bottle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 million years
Monofilament fishing line . . . . . . . . . . . . 600 years
Plastic beverage bottles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 years
Disposable diapers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 years
Aluminum can . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80-200 years
Foamed plastic buoy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 years
Rubber boot sole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50-80 years
Foamed plastic cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 years
Tin can . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 years
Leather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 years
Nylon fabric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30-40 years
Plastic film canister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20-30 years
Plastic bag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-20 years
Cigarette filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5 years
Wool sock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5 years
Plywood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3 years
Waxed milk carton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 months
Apple core . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 months
Newspaper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 weeks
Orange or banana peel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5 weeks
Paper towel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4 weeks

Recycling is probably the best thing you can do to respect our environment and future generation. Please use your communities recycling program.