You Will Not Believe How Long These Items Takes To Decomposes

From a sustainability perspective, it's important to know how long it takes various types of garbage to decompose. We should focus our efforts especially on reducing the consumption of products that generate waste materials that take a long time in to completely break down.
As humans, our biggest plan and achievement would be to leave a lasting legacy behind us. What if we told you that you already are leaving a trail of long-living heirlooms. Happy? Well, you shouldn’t be, for this legacy is of your carbon footprint on the planet, and it is full of your trash. Surprised? Check this list.

Plastic Waste

Plastic products are very common in our modern life. According to estimates, every year we use approximately 1.6 million barrels of oil just for producing plastic water bottles. Plastic waste is one of many types of wastes that take too long to decompose. Normally, plastic items can take up to 1,000 years to decompose in landfills. Even plastic bags we use in our everyday life take anywhere from 10 to 1,000 years to decompose, and plastic bottles can take 450 years or more.

Disposable Diapers

In the United States alone, more than 18 billion disposable diapers are thrown away every year. These disposable diapers take approximately 250-500 years to decompose in landfills, thus underscoring the importance of programs offering diaper and absorbent hygiene product recycling.

Aluminum Cans

Every minute of every day in America, more than 120,000 aluminum cans are recycled. But, at the same time, in every three-month period in the U.S., enough aluminum cans are thrown away to rebuild the entire American commercial air fleet. Aluminum cans take 80-200 years in landfills to completely decompose.  

Glass

Glass is normally very easy to recycle due to the fact that it's made of sand. By simply breaking down the glass and melting it, we can produce new glass. But the shocking fact is that if glass is thrown away in landfills, it takes a million years to decompose. And according to some sources, it doesn’t decompose at all. 

Paper Waste

Based on volume, paper is the largest element in American landfills. Normally, it takes two to six weeks in a landfill to get completely decomposed. Recycling paper items saves a lot of landfill space while also reducing the energy and virgin material usage demanded by making non-recycled paper.

Food Waste

By weight, food waste is the largest waste item in American landfills. The time taken for food waste decomposition depends on the type of food. Normally, an orange peel takes six months, while an apple core or a banana peel takes around one month to decompose. Composting and food waste recycling are great ways to divert food waste away from landfills.

Other Waste Items

Different sources have different information on the actual time various waste items take to decompose in landfills. Here are some estimates for common waste items:

Fashion- and lifestyle-related items

Leather shoes: 25-40 years

Thread: 3-4 months

Cotton clothes: 1-5 months

Nylon clothes: 30-40 years

Hairspray bottle: 200-500 years

Disposable Diapers: 250-500 years

Sanitary Pads: 500-800 years

Wool Clothing: 1-5 years

Cotton gloves: 1 to 5 months

Rubber-Boot Sole: 50-80 years

Tampons: 800 years for pads.

Hairspray bottle: 200-500 years

Trainers: 50 years

Wind-cheaters: 30 to 40 years

Leather bag, wallet: 50 years

Woollen gloves: 1 year

Everyday household items

Toothbrush: 400 years

Pen: 450 years

Plywood: 1 to 3 years

Tin cans: 50 years

Plastic bottle: 100 years

Batteries: 100 years

Lumber: 10-15 years

Tinfoil: Does not biodegrade

Tin can: 50 years

Plywood: 1-3 years

Painted board: 13 years

Cardboard: 2 months

Paper towel: 2 to 4 weeks

Paper towel: 2-4 weeks

Children diapers: 500-800 years

Newspaper: 6 weeks

Carpet: 30 to 40 years

Car tyres: 50 years

Food-related and kitchen items

Plastic bottles: 500-1000 years

Plastic bag: 500-1000 years

Milk packet (tetra) covers: 5 years

Ketchup sachet: 5 years

Glass bottle: 1-2 million years

Aluminium can: 80 to 200 years

Styrofoam: Does not biodegrade

Grocery thin plastic bags: 10 to 20 years

Foamed plastic cups: 50 years

Milk carton: 5 years

Apple core: 2 months

Zip lock bags: 500-1,000 years

Crisp packets: 450 to 1,000 years

Cereal boxes: 6 weeks

Wax coated milk carton: 3 months

Banana skins: 2 years

Apple core: 2 weeks

Juice cartons: 300 years

Coffee cups: 30 years

Crisp packets: 80-100 years

Plastic straw: 200 years

Tetra pack (small): 5 years

Cutlery piece: 450 years

Everyday miscellaneous items

Painted wooden stick: 13 years

Rope: 3-14 months

Fishing line: 600 years

Train tickets: 2 weeks

Canvas products: 1 year

Cardboard box: 2 months

Aluminium cans: 200 years

Glass: Undetermined. Some sources claim glass never decomposes at all.

Cigarette filter: 5 years

Cigarette: 1-12 years