Biodegradation of Polyethylene Films
“Polyethylene or polythene film is usually stable and resistant to degradation. Methods are available to make it more degradable under certain conditions of sunlight, moisture, oxygen, and composting.”
“If traditional polyethylene film is littered it can be unsightly, and a hazard to wildlife. Some people believe that making plastic shopping bags biodegradable is one way to try to allow the open litter to degrade.”
“Polythene or Polyethylene film will naturally fragment and biodegrade, but it can take many decades to do this, and can in the meantime cause an environmental problem. There are two methods to resolve this problem. One is to modify the carbon chain of polyethylene with an additive to improve its degradability and then its biodegradability; the other is to make a film with similar properties to polyethylene from a biodegradable substance such as starch. The latter are however much more expensive.”
Recent Journal Articles
Influence for Soil Environment by Continuing use of Biodegradable Plastic
(622-627) Journal of Polymers and the Environment 19 #3 (2011)
Masui et al of the Technolog Research Institute of Osaka Prefecture and Osaka Prefecture University, Japan. Found that in usual usage condition of the biodegradable plastic films, it hardly affected the bacterial community structure in the soil. (RDC 8/23/2011)
Formation and Biodegradation of Polyethylene-based Electret Films
(205-211) International Polymer Processing #2 (2011)
Goldade et al, Belarus, showed that the kinetics of biodestruction of polyethylene films, including starch-filled and inorganic saltfilled ones, alters significantly after such film transfer to electret state. The point is that electrification can accelerate biodegradation. (RDC 5/23/2011) (See Electrets )