Dismantling packaging and other waste
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Today was rushed again and I wanted to save time. I therefore ordered lunch directly to the office. It came nicely packaged.
There was a plastic bag with the main meal in a plastic bag, the soup was in a polystyrene bowl, and the drink was in an aluminum can, and I got a plastic PET cup for free. Lunch was delicious, but when I started to clean up after myself, it became difficult for me. What will happen to all this waste, since there are no containers for sorted waste anywhere nearby. After a while, I put it out of my mind because my duties caught up with me again, but it kept me awake at night. I started searching the internet.
To my horror, I learned that all the packaging I used for lunch will remain somewhere in a landfill for a very long time. In quotes, an aluminum can will do best. It will decompose in less than 100 years.
It's worse with PET packaging and plastic bags. They decompose in nature in 500 years. The worst part will be the polystyrene packaging, which will remain in nature for an incredible 1000 years. What will happen in 1000 years? Hard to say. However, when this packaging ends up in nature somewhere in a landfill, there will still be traces of it in nature after about 40 generations of me.
What about other packaging? The statistics are not encouraging. The packaging that we use the most and mostly for single use remains in nature for hundreds of years. The good news, however, is that in addition to traditional plastic packaging, there are alternatives made from paper, sugar cane, palm leaves and BIO plastics CPLA. As can be seen from the table, the decomposition time is much less.
What about other packaging? The statistics are not encouraging. The packaging that we use the most and mostly for single use remains in nature for hundreds of years. The good news, however, is that in addition to traditional plastic packaging, there are alternatives made from paper, sugar cane, palm leaves and BIO plastics CPLA. As can be seen from the table, the decomposition time is much less.
Type of waste | Approximate decomposition time |
Sugar cane packaging | 1.5 - 2 months |
Palm leaf wrappers | 1.5 - 2 months |
Paper | 2 - 5 months |
BIO plastics CPLA | 5 - 6 months |
Cigarette butts | 2 years |
Chewing gum | 5 years |
Milk carton | 6-10 years |
Plastic cup | 50-80 years |
Aluminum cans | 20-100 years |
Battery | 200-500 years |
Tire | 250 years |
Pet bottles | 500 years |
Plastic bags | 500 years |
Polystyrene | 1000 years |
Glass | 4000 years |