3 ms·
I think plastics main selling point is not its longevity, but the possibility to easily form objects of many shapes. What makes you believe "rot like paper" is
by red_trumpet 4y ago
I think plastics main selling point is not its longevity, but the possibility to easily form objects of many shapes.
What makes you believe "rot like paper" is more appropriate than "rot like wood"?
- pmichaud 4y agoWood is thicker, denser, and has more structure than paper. My guess is that paper is a closer analogy in this case.
- wyago 4y agoThis is probably accurate for films and fabrics, but I wouldn't be surprised if thick solids would be at least as slow to rot as wood. I don't know what proportion of plastic mass is in each form though.
- marcosdumay 4y agoPaper is porous. Metal sheets are closer to it. Any biological digestion of plastic will be either a very slow process focused on microplastics or have a large mechanical component.
- culi 4y agoWood is a nice analogy because when it was first evolved there was nothing on earth that could break down the lignin. As a result, we had a couple thousand years where wood just piled up like a global waste crisis. Eventually fungi got really good at dealing with it We're again seeing a waste crisis due to a novel material and once again fungi might end up saving us (though we don't have a thousand years to wait this time)
- mrcartmeneses 4y agoIt was several million years