How many years does it take for waste plastics to degrade?

The natural degradation time of plastic packaging materials is very long, some as long as 100 years. The non-degradability of plastics leads to the long-term existence of its wastes. Moreover, plastic packaging waste is often discarded once it is consumed, so it has become an increasingly prominent environmental problem, forming the so-called "white pollution", which has caused great pressure on the living environment of human beings. Therefore, the recycling of plastic packaging waste is imminent.

Plastic waste pollution in petrochemical production is a worldwide environmental problem. Most plastics are discarded after one-time consumption. Up to now, the academic circles believe that plastic products may not decompose in the natural environment for decades to hundreds of years because of their stable physical and chemical structures.

Every year, 40 million tons of waste plastics are piled up in the environment all over the world, and about 2 million tons of waste plastics are thrown into the environment in China. Taking agricultural film for farmland as an example, the annual output of agricultural film in China reaches one million tons, and it is increasing by 65,438+00% every year. No matter what crops are covered, all film-covered soils have residual films. According to statistics, the annual residue of agricultural film in China is as high as 350,000 tons, and the residual film rate is 42%. A large number of residual films remain in the 0-30 cm tillage layer of farmland. In other words, nearly half of the agricultural film remains in the soil, and there are great hidden dangers in food safety.

Extended data:

Degradable plastics are the general name of photodegradable plastics and biodegradable plastics. Developed countries began to study photodegradable plastics in 1970s, and the concept was relatively mature. Biodegradation began in the mid-1980s and developed rapidly, and its industrial products already existed.

China began to study photodegradable plastics in 1980s, and it was not until recent years that it began to study biodegradable plastics. There are dozens of units engaged in this project in China, but the application is not large, and the popularization should just begin. China's degradable plastics are mainly filled with starch, and its products have reached the level of similar products abroad, but there is still a long way to go before industrial production.

Baidu encyclopedia-plastic

Baidu encyclopedia-degradable plastics