Our descendants will be "grateful" to us: how many years different types of garbage decompose

Have you ever wondered how quickly the environment will turn a plastic bottle, an old tire or a banana peel into dust? The problem of disposing of household waste does not boil down to the fact that unscrupulous people throw garbage in unidentified places, including during outdoor recreation. Those household waste that is collected centrally and without sorting is sent to landfills, causing the planet no less harm.

It will be more than one hundred years before the mountains of garbage sprinkled with soil cease to pose a danger to the environment. We offer to see how much time it will take for the resulting garbage to become part of nature.

Food waste

This category includes the fastest decomposing waste. Residues of food products decay under the influence of microorganisms within 1 month. An exception is the orange peel: the environment requires much more time to process it - from 4 to 6 months.

Paper and printed matter

Plain paper and cardboard decompose in 1-2 months, but books or printed matter may take up to two years. The process of processing beautiful glossy magazines takes the longest: nature will take about 5 years to destroy them.

Clothes and shoes

The remnants of clothes made of cotton, linen, bamboo fiber or viscose are completely processed under the influence of moisture and microorganisms for 3 years. At the same time, woolen products are less stable, and for their decomposition it will take no more than 1 year. But in order to recycle clothing made of synthetic materials and old shoes, it takes about 50 years.

Wood and Boards

The wood thrown into the landfill decomposes for about 3-10 years, but wooden products covered with paints and varnishes can rot up to 13 years.

Chewing gum

Thrown on the ground chewing gum will disappear only after 30 years. Moreover, in this optimistic period only territories with a warm tropical climate fit in, where decomposition processes last year-round.

Spent Batteries

Batteries and accumulators for household appliances have been decaying in nature for about 100 years.

Plastic bags

How quickly they entered our daily lives, making them more comfortable and easier. Meanwhile, the decomposition time of a plastic bag cannot be compared with its short service life: it will take from 30 to 200 years.

Plastic bottles

Another scourge of modern civilization. The main problem of plastic recycling is that it is several times cheaper to produce a new batch of bottles than to process them. But plastic bottles decompose from 450 to 1000 years, depending on the climate and the composition of the plastic.

Aluminum cans

Aluminum is a cheap and affordable material, which is also used in the manufacture of disposable containers for drinks. Unfortunately, aluminum cans will remain part of the environment for a long time: it will take 80 to 500 years to disappear.

Iron cans

It will take about 10 years for the tin cans that have served up to decompose completely.

Rubber tires

Spent tires are an integral part of the life of any motorist. It takes up to 100 years for nature to process this type of waste.

Sponges for dishes

This convenient household item is in every home. But for convenience we pay too high a price: foam sponges decompose for about 200 years.

Glass

Despite the fact that glass items are made from natural material, the period of its decomposition in nature can exceed 1000 years. At the same time, experts believe that the glass does not completely decompose.