How do plastics biodegrade?
The first thing to keep in mind when answering this question is that everything on the planet is made from atomic particles. Even things that are considered “man made” utilize atomic particles that were and always will be here on the planet. Plastics are no different and in fact most plastics are hydro-carbons meaning they are made mostly from hydrogen and carbon atoms. Plastics have been designed for their properties to keep out oxygen so that the food product inside is preserved from naturally biodegrading/rotting. Oxygen is an extremely permeable atom and can make its way into just about any type of barrier (including plastics). Plastics used in the beverage industry is Poly(ethylene terephthalate) PET which has been designed to have an extremely tight chemical bond. The other aspect to keep in mind is that everything on the planet will decompose and biodegrade over time. Microbes are found all over the planet in every aspect of our lives and are constantly breaking things back into