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How long do plastic bags take to decompose? Is it really a thousand years?

April 26, 2017bags Biology decompose ecology plastic pollution thousand

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How long do plastic bags take to decompose? Is it really a thousand years?

3 Answers

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Plastic bags do not decompose, but it is estimated that in 1,000 years bacteria will evolve that can biodegrade plastic.

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Some estimates are 500 years to degrade, some more conservative are 1000 years. The bags will photodegrade, but that will take a long time, hence the 500-1000 year estimate. The problem is there are no bacteria breaking down the plastic in plastic bags. Eventually some may evolve to do so, but science may need to step in and speed the process along.

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IN some situations they could very well never decompose if there is no air or movement of the soil. But a teenager managed in a science project to get them to decompose in 3 months!