Examples of things that would NOT biodegrade include Styrofoam, many man-made
detergents, many building materials, most of the bags that chip snacks come in, plastic bottles, motor oil, most varnishes and dyes.
T
hings that ARE biodegradable include fruits and vegetables, natural woods, paper, leather, natural fabrics. Essentially, if it
’s made from something natural, it should biodegrade naturally.
The best way to become more biodegradable aware is to do two things. Firstly, when you have a purchasing option, purchase the item with the least amount of packaging around it and, if possible, an item that is labeled as biodegradable. The second way is to gradually wean yourself off of products that clearly aren’t biodegradable, and carry your own food packaging with you so that you can avoid plastic grocery bags and in some cases Styrofoam take out containers.
Increasing the number of biodegradable products that you use can not only help reduce landfill space, it can send a clear message to manufactures that biodegradable products and packaging drive our purchasing decisions.
If you look it up in a dictionary, biodegradable means “Capable of being decomposed by biological agents, especially bacteria.” If you break that down into “non-dictionary speak”, what it means is, if you left something outside in, say, a landfill (or your back yard, or your compost pile), it would disintegrate and go back to nature all on its own.
Read 948 times
|
TGB Staff
Sometimes, the TGB staff just pitches in and writes. In between throwing pencils at trash cans, having light saber fights with our iPhones and arguing over which American Idol contestant should go home, some work does get done around here.
Website: www.Twitter.com/TinyGreenBubble E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
