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Everyone seems to see this as a good thing, but think of terrible it would be if all the plastic items around you decomposed like wood. Sure, it would be benefi

Everyone seems to see this as a good thing, but think of terrible it would be if all the plastic items around you decomposed like wood. Sure, it would be beneficial for garbage and litter to "go away," but just think of how much more plastic we would need to use if every plastic item needed to be replaced every 10 years. I think it might have a significant impact on recycling as well - "rotten" plastic might be unrecylable, leading to even more use of virgin (?) plastic.

ams6110 11y ago
A lot of them do, if exposed to sunlight. Put a plastic water bottle or shopping bag out where it will get daily exposure to the sun. It doesn't take too long (e.g. less than a year?) before it first gets brittle and crumbly and then disintegrates completely.
Retric 11y ago
Dry wood lasts a lot longer than 10 years. Presumably, dry plastic would also last a very long time. A paint can also protect stuff for a long time.
- mason240 11y ago
  Except "not rotting or corroding in wet conditions" is one of the reasons plastic is so useful.
  - Retric 11y ago
    People also used to use wooden boats.
    - mason240 11y ago
      Ok? They switched because plastic is a far superior material. I never have to worry about my plastic canoe rotting, weighs half of what a wooden one does, and is more flexible when scraping rock.
facepalm 11y ago
We would just have to add some toxic substances to the plastic to keep the microbes down :-/