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nafex - Re: LLP Re: [NAFEX] Litter's Legacy

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  • From: list@ginda.us
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: LLP Re: [NAFEX] Litter's Legacy
  • Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2004 19:53:46 -0500

Styrofoam degrades much faster than plastic bottles. Probably because it has so much surface area for light and bacteria to work on. Plastics vary a lot in how well they hold up to weathering. We have some old plastic beach toys that are well on their way to disintegration after only 5 years of exposure - and they were in the sandbox, which is pretty shady, so it's water and bacteria and air as much as it is sunlight that's breaking them down. Some aluminum cans in the same sandbox have held up much better, so I'm dubious even of the relative ages of your list.

Ginda


On Dec 13, 2004, at 12:57 PM, David W Hausmann wrote:

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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