• Question: Why does the polythene paper indestructable to rotting?

    Asked by 547ylwj1723 to Esther on 11 Jul 2017.
    • Photo: Esther Muthumbi

      Esther Muthumbi answered on 11 Jul 2017:


      Strictly speaking, polythene does decompose. It is just that it takes a really really long time to decompose (tens of thousands of years), compared to other natural products which take a few years. microorganisms are responsible for breaking matter into small bits leading to rotting. Polythene is a synthetic polymer made from oil that microorganisms don’t recognise as food and as such degrade by photo degradation (i.e exposure to sun) which takes long

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