Decomposition of Plastics

How long does it take for plastic bottles to decompose

Introduction

Plastics are polymer materials that can change easily change in shape. Many items are made of plastics because twisting them into different shapes is easy. The long chains of atoms bonded together make up a polymer, which is plastic. Breaking or degrading these long-chain bonded atoms is not an easy task.the bonds can only separate after a UV ray sunlight reaction. The type of plastics used to make water bottles is high-density polyethylene and polystyrene types of polymers. These kinds of polymers made from very long atom chain reaction bonds that cannot be easily separated, and that’s why even the period for its decomposition is quite long.

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Then, let us understand how long does it take for plastic bottles to decompose.

Generally, plastic waste is one type of debris that take too much longer to decompose. Chemical residues can take up to 1000 years to decompose in landfills. Plastic bottles are very different from the plastic bags used daily. The plastic bags takes almost up to 20 years to decompose, unlike the plastic bottles, which take 0ver 250 years to degrade completely. Nearly 90% of water bottles not recycled in the environment are in bins, but not knowing that in conventional science, plastics do not decompose. Still, they instead breakdown into smaller pieces through the action of the UV rays from sunlight, which break the bonds that hold the atoms together.

How can we stop drinking water from plastic bottles

Because plastics are easy to mold and make, manufactures find it economical to package water into plastic bottles. Even though water is not acidic, unlike soda, anytime you take water from a plastic bottle, you are risking consuming chemicals used to manufacture the cylinders because the toxins might be leaking to water over time. Especially bottles that have stayed for long in the store and those exposed to sunlight or heat.for you to stop taking bottled water, you can purchase your steel BPA-free bottle, which is reusable., and be refilling it home anytime you go out. Or for a journey to avoid buying plastic bottled water, you can buy a Design Solar Bottle, which is a drinking container for purifying water, to ensure you have safe and clean drinking water when out. All these can help to cut down the use of plastic bottles.

What can you do with old water bottles

Plastic water bottles cannot quickly decompose because of its manufacturing nature. It is, therefore, reasonable to find a better and profitable way to recycle the older and used plastic bottles. Some of these ways include;

• Making of no-sew zipper cases

The case made at no cost is by cutting around and glue a zipper on it. It can be used by children to store pens or to store your arts and craft items.

• Making a water sprinkler

Poke holes on the plastic bottles, insert a pipe through the bottle’s mouth, and wrap tightly to fix the tube in place.you can always connect to the tap whenever you want to water thee outdoor plants.

• Used to make feeders for birds and chicken at home
• Use for making bottle cap mosaic arts for your walls.
• Plastic bottles can be recycled and used as kitchen storage containers for storing salt, sugar, rice flour, and even tea leaves.
• The plastic bottles can be designed into a drip irrigator to supply water to plants.
• The plastics can modify into a vertical hanging garden on your farm.
• Plastic bottles, when cutting into flat pieces, can be used to construct a small home greenhouse.
• The plastics cut into designs and used as unbreakable snacks and fruit bowls at home.

Conclusions

The use of plastic bottles is on the rise worldwide despite the harmful effects it might cause to your health and the environment. You are therefore called upon to cut down the use of these bottles by coming up with another method of water packaging. You can buy a reusable steel container to carry your water every time you are moving out of your home to avoid buying the plastic bottled water. The plastic bottles are non-biodegradable in the environment, and it takes more than a decade to degrade. It is therefore advisable to recycle the already available plastics around your home into different home usage discussed above. And this will help to reduce the disposal of plastics to the environment.