How Long for a Water Bottle to Decompose?

Plastic bottles take a ridiculous amount of time to decompose. Would you believe that they can sit in a landfill for 1000 years before they fully decompose? And that is if the bottles are exposed to air. If they are buried under meters-high amounts of trash as usual, it will take even longer for them to disintegrate because of the lack of exposure to air.

Organic materials decompose quickly, but plastic is 100 percent inorganic, being made in the lab from mixture of chemicals. The problem is that the materials used to make plastic are just highly resistant to disintegration.

Some of the newer type of plastics being used in products such as grocery bags are designed to decompose much more quickly, which is a great step forward. But we have a long way to go in this area. Just think of all the plastic bags and plastic bottles used every day around the world that pile up in landfills that will still be there thousands of years from now.

It amazes me that people don’t pay more attention to this issue. It’s not like it hasn’t been talked about in the media before. And I venture to guess that if you quiz your friends, most of them would not be surprised that plastic lasts a long and is such a detriment to our environment.

So why isn’t more done to curb the use of these bottles in industry, seeing as it’s widely known that they are bad for the planet. Largely, it’s because plastic is a very cheap products to make, which is a very good thing for big business which is primarily concerned with short-term profits. And people like to buy products that are cheap, and are generally unwilling to pay even a little bit more for packaging that is better for the environment.

But it’s obvious that we are going to have to get off of the plastic sooner or later. It’s my belief that it’s going to take government regulation in order to make it less attractive to businesses to use plastic bottles and bags.

It’s going to take both business and leaders in government acting like adults and deciding to do what’s best for the nation and the world. Enough with the decision-making based on short-term views rather than long-term.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten that rant out of my system I feel much better. 🙂 Thank you for listening!

So now that you know how long it takes for plastic bottles and bags to decompose, please do your part and a try to limit your use of them. I know it’s almost impossible to completely get rid of them, but we can make improvements there.

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