Plastics take a very long time to decompose, ranging broadly from about 20 years to as much as 500 years or more, depending on the type of plastic and environmental conditions. For instance:
- Plastic bags typically take around 20 years to break down.
- Plastic water bottles, made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), can take approximately 450 years.
- Items like toothbrushes, disposable diapers, and Styrofoam can take up to 500 years.
- Fishing lines may take as long as 600 years to decompose
The decomposition process is influenced by factors such as exposure to sunlight (UV radiation), which can accelerate breakdown through photodegradation, but plastics often only fragment into smaller pieces called microplastics rather than fully disappearing
. In some cases, plastics buried in landfills or submerged in oceans degrade even more slowly, potentially lasting up to a thousand years or more under certain conditions
. Thus, plastic waste persists in the environment for centuries, posing significant ecological challenges.
