Sunlight can bake plastic into thousands of organic molecules, here's how

Plastic is both considered a blessing as well as a curse since it has changed our lifestyle by making things easier but has become a big problem in the long run. Every single item we’ve ever used that was made of plastic still exists on the planet in its original form or recycled into something else. Their rate of breakdown is extremely slow, but over time, they break down into smaller molecules called microplastics.

As of today, Plastic is everywhere and due to molecular structure, it can stand for years without seeing any visible damage. Therefore, it is an extremely useful element that was invented, however, as far as waste is concerned, it’s a disaster. Not even scientists can truly predict how long the plastic compound can last as it has been in use for just over a century. Some scientists have combined their knowledge of plastic with statistical data and have estimated that it can take hundreds of years for plastic to break down. This isn’t ideal as with every passing day, thousands of tons of plastic waste are being dumped into hills and oceans.

How long can it actually take plastic to break down?

It is predicted that plastics can take anywhere from 20 to 500 years to decompose and it heavily depends on the type of plastic and its structure. Moreover, the rate of decomposing of plastic depends on its exposure to sunlight as it absorbs UV radiation from the sun and it breaks into smaller molecules. Scientifically, this process is called photodegradation. Hence, it can be said that it's more beneficial to dump waste in landfills rather than inside oceans. A grocery bag made out of plastic can take almost 20 years to completely break down, while a plastic bottle made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) can take almost five centuries to vanish from the earth.

The reason being that plastic is something created by humans. Even though it is made using petroleum, but after being heavily processed. The carbon bonds present in plastics are very brittle and strong and aren’t the same as naturally found chemical bonds. Therefore, it is almost impossible to get rid of all the plastic waste present in our atmosphere.