Biodegradable Products: What are they?

A lot of products these days are claiming to be recyclable, biodegradable, made from recycled materials, etc. How do you know which products are best for the environment? What do these terms even mean? Today, we will clarify what it means for a product or material to be biodegradable. Are the biodegradable shopping bags really doing the trick?

What does it mean for a material to be biodegradable? An item that is biodegradable is a product or material made from an eco friendly material that decomposes in landfills or other environments such as roadsides as people litter.

Now, what actually makes materials biodegradable? The first way items can be biodegradable depends on their source. Natural materials are biodegradable because they come directly from plants or other natural fibers. Plants produce a large majority of the natural fibers. These kinds of materials are made from cotton, which is the largest plant fiber. Jute is the second largest plant fiber in manufacturing material. Animals also produce natural fibers. Materials like wool from sheep and alpaca fibers will decompose naturally because they are not fabricated. The fibers are woven into a fabric, but it is the fiber that is biodegradable.

Some plastics are also biodegradable. These materials are manufactured with a chemical base that causes a more rapid breakdown. Traditional plastics will break down in landfills, but it will take years upon years to see any results. However, it will take only a few months to a few years for most biodegradable plastics to decompose fully.

There are many ways to degrade materials. For example, in the landfills, microorganisms are actually "eating" the materials. They are being broken down by enzymes, and the rate of this process depends the heat present and the amount of oxygen available.

The material itself is the biggest part in deciding how long it takes for the biodegradable process to complete itself. For an example, Wikipedia provides a list of biodegradable products. Banana peels take only 2-10 days where orange peels take about 1 month. Paper can take 2-5 months, and plastic bags take 10-20 years. The winner of the longest biodegration process is diapers and aluminum cans: 200-500 years. After looking at a lot of these long degration processes, it is a relief to see that cotton only takes 1-5 months and wool takes about 1-5 years. The biodegradable plastic bags take about 2-3 months to decompose.

As you can see, when products that are used in bulk quantity add up, there is potential to have a lot of full landfills, which is bad for the environment. Making smart decisions about product materials will help out the environment, and in a lot of cases you wallet, too. A lot of biodegradable materials are about the same and sometimes less money than the fabricated alternatives.