North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[David W Hausmann <wizard2468@juno.com>]

Dear LLP,
        I am sure conditions play a role.  I just thought a basic list on some
common objects in one place may be helpful.
        However, I do have to disagree with you about the plastic degrading so
quickly.  I use green 2 liter soda bottles for sleeves around young
plants to protect from the weed eater [cut off both ends and have a
sleeve capable of being pushed into wet ground, with a twist] and they
lose their shine, but I have several I have used for 8 or more years now
and are just fine.  People have told me they would decay, but have yet to
see it.  In fact, I am thinking of filling some with crumbled up foil and
using pop rivets to hold several together for a privacy fence.  For the
posts I will fill 3 with dirt below ground and maybe another 2 or 3 above
ground filled with dirt with the foil between the dirt and the bottle, so
you would only see the foil.  Could even do pictures using green and
clear bottles [vines, flowers, etc.]  The only damage they can get is a
crease in them, then they just won't hold their shape.  That is why I
fill the weight bearing ones with dirt [cheaper than sand here, and
mainly clay anyhow.]
        Have a Good One!  Love, Peace and Perception

Wizard


On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 08:26:31 -0600 Lucky Pittman
<lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu> writes:
> I suspect that these projected 'decomposition times' relate to these 
> objects buried in the anaerobic conditions of a landfill.  I can 
> assure you 
> that a styrofoam cup or plastic milk jug, lying on top of the 
> ground, will 
> degrade, due to the combined effects of UV light and bacterial(many 
> Pseudomonas spp. have been shown to be able to use plastics as a 
> carbon 
> source) and fungal metabolism, oftentimes in less than three years.
> Likewise, the steel(tinned) can, if buried just at the soil surface, 
> will 
> certainly be gone in far less than 90 years - there have been 
> thousands of 
> direct-seeded nut trees planted with a steel can with an 'X' cut in 
> the 
> bottom & peeled back somewhat to allow emergence of the seedling, 
> shoved 
> down over them to provide some protection against pilfering by 
> mice/squirrels/raccoons, and in the vast majority of cases, the can 
> rusts 
> completely away before the seedling attains sufficient caliper to 
> require 
> removal, or even cutting of the rim of the can to prevent girdling.
> That still doesn't give folks a good reason for throwing them out 
> hither 
> and yon.
> 
> LLP
> 
> 
> At 11:08 AM 12/12/2004 -0600, you wrote:
> >'Ello, All!
> >         I try not to be fanatical on this topic, just do what I 
> can, but you
> >hear so many different decomposition rates for objects I thought 
> this was
> >nice in having it all in one list.  It came from a brochure from a 
> paper
> >newsletter from the Missouri Forestkeepers Network, a State 
> Department of
> >Conservation organization set up to monitor the state of the 
> state's
> >forests.
> >
> >                 Litter's Legacy
> >
> >         Objects         Decomposition Time
> >
> >Styrofoam container     >1 million years
> >
> >Plastic Jug                     1 million years
> >
> >Disposable diaper               550 years
> >
> >Aluminum can            200-500 years
> >
> >Tinned can                      90 years
> >
> >Leather shoe                    45 years
> 
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                                                       Wizard2468
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