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Plastics Biodegradable Plastic

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Plastics Biodegradable Plastic
The first known use of the word in biological text was in 1961 when employed to describe the breakdown of material into the base components of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen by microorganisms. Now biodegradable is commonly associated with environmentally friendly products that are part of the earth’s innate cycle and capable of decomposing back into natural elements.
Biodegradation is the chemical dissolution of materials by bacteria or other biological means.
Biodegradable matter is generally organic material such as plant and animal matter and other substances originating from living organisms, or artificial materials that are similar enough to plant and animal matter to be put to use by microorganisms

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BIODEGRADABLE Plastics
Biodegradable plastic is plastic that has been treated to be easily broken down by microorganisms and return to nature. Many technologies exist today that allow for such treatment. Currently there are some synthetic polymers that can be broken down by microorganisms such as polycaprolactone, others are polyesters and aromatic-aliphatic esters, due to their ester bonds being susceptible to attack by water. Some examples of these are the natural poly-3-hydroxybutyrate, the renewably derived polylactic acid, and the synthetic polycaprolactone. Others are the cellulose-based cellulose acetate and celluloid (cellulose nitrate).
Under low oxygen conditions biodegradable plastics break down slower and with the production of methane, like other organic materials do. The breakdown process is accelerated in a dedicated compost heap. Starch-based plastics will degrade within two to four months in a home compost bin, while polylactic acid is largely undecomposed, requiring higher temperatures.[11] Polycaprolactone and polycaprolactone-starch composites decompose slower, but the starch content accelerates decomposition by leaving behind a porous, high surface area polycaprolactone.

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