Waste Decomposition Timeline
The timeline below shows how long it takes for products and materials to break down and return to soil when left exposed to air and sunlight.
Loose-leaf paper (2-4 weeks) ---> Most vegetable peels (2-5 weeks) --->
Cotton T-shirt (1-5 months) ---> Orange peel (6 months) --->
Woolen sock (one year) ---> Woolen sweater (3-5 years) --->
Paper plate (5 years) ---> Plastic bag (10-20 years) ---> Painted wood (13 years) --->
Plastic film container (20-30 years) ---> Leather shoe (25-40 years) --->
Nylon parka (30-40 years) ---> Rubber boot ---> (50-80 years) --->
Steel can (100 years) ---> Aluminum can ( 200-500 years) ---> Plastic cup (250 years) --->
Plastic 6-pack holder (450 years) ---> Disposable diaper (500 years) --->
G lass bottle ---> (1,000,000 years) ---> Plastic bottle (1,000,000 years) ---> Polystyrene foam cup ( NEVER! )
From Dumpster Rentals Cooperative blog moderators: We would like to thank Rob Lough, an owner of 1-888-JunkBin , a local Halifax, NS dumpster rental company for his constant contributing to our environment protection and waste reduction effort.
- Published: 2013-08-31T12:43:11-07:00
- Author: Laura Schmidt, Dumpster Rentals Customer Supp
