A few days ago
Le

How long does it take for petroleum based plastics to biodegrade?

Petroleum based plastic versus corn-based plastic

Top 3 Answers
A few days ago
FALL

Favorite Answer

They never do. Corn-based plastics take just 45 days to biodegrade in a landfill. Normal plastic can take thousands of years to decompose.

here is an article on corn based plastics…

http://www.truthabouttrade.org/article.asp?id=2708

and another..

http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/issues/2006/august/pla.php

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A few days ago
Bob Thompson
I was just reading about corn based plastic (http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/issues/2006/august/pla.php) and it seems like the stuff can just bio degrade as fertilizer, which would imply that it would in a very short period. Petroleum based plastics I am told take up to 1,000 years to bio-degrade
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A few days ago
Derail
From my own personal experiences, number 1 plastic (pop bottles) and number 2 (milk cartons), exposed to sunlight and on the surface, take about two years to decompose.
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