�鶹��ý

Skip to content

Environment

Bag breakdown

5 June 2013

�鶹��ý. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

I found this plastic shopping bag, which was full of other plastic bags, stored in the bottom of a wardrobe (see photo). Though the bag is labelled as “100% degradable”, I wonder why it should start to degrade in the absence of light or moisture, and especially why the red parts should degrade first.

• It looks as though the questioner has an oxo-degradable bag. These bags decompose by oxidation, which can proceed in the absence of sunlight or moisture. A metal, usually manganese or iron, is added to the bag to catalyse the natural oxidation process, which simply…

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to date with �鶹��ý events and special offers.

Sign up

or

Existing subscribers

1

Red-light therapy does have health benefits but not the ones you think

2

Woman in cancer remission without treatment in highly unusual case

3

Man destined for Alzheimer's may have been saved by accidental therapy

4

A lost ancient script reveals how writing as we know it really began

5

PCOS postpones perimenopause and allows pregnancies at older ages

6

Hantavirus outbreak will not cause a covid-style pandemic, says WHO

7

Is consciousness more fundamental to reality than quantum physics?

8

Extinct relative of koalas discovered in Western Australia

9

Where has the deadly hantavirus come from and how does it spread?

10

Smart underwear detects lactose intolerance by tracking your farts