Non-Toxic Living: What are Biodegradable Materials

Non-Toxic Living: What are Biodegradable Materials:

The term biodegradable has been widely misunderstood and as a result also widely misused both by manufacturers of products as well as consumers of the products.

Biodegradable refers to the capacity of an organic substance to be broken down by the biological action of microorganisms into the materials of nature and disappear into the environment. Nature biodegrades everything it makes back into the basic building blocks, so that new living things can be made from the old. Every resource made by nature returns to nature. Man, plants and animals biodegrade. It is a perfect system of recycling that we need to take note and learn from. If you desire a non-toxic living, free for accumulation of harmful substances, this information is crucial for you.

In order for biodegradation to occur, certain conditions must be present. Amongst them are:

(1) The nature of the substance need be taken into account,
(2) The nature of the environment also determines the biodegradation process
(3) Time is also a factor.
And (4) The volume of biodegrading materials is another determinant.

Natural organic materials can be broken down by the action of microorganism, given time and a suitable environment. Most manufactured products however cannot be broken down by bacterial action as their raw materials content that has been altered is not recognizable to microorganisms. Biodegradation may both occur in the soil or in water a long as the environment where degradation is to take place must be in the presence of enough oxygen, light, water and biological activity.

As an example soap, in any quantity is readily biodegradable in large quantities without posing any harm to the environment. Where oxygen and light is absent as in the case of the bottom of a waste dump where microorganisms may have been killed, biodegradation does not take place. Some things also take a longer time to biodegrade as compared to others, even in ideal conditions. A few months is required to biodegrade paper, rope, orange peels whereas to biodegrade leather shoes, nylon fabric and aluminum cans may take 45 to a hundred years. Glass and plastic bottles may take even a million years.

The terms ‘biodegradable’, ‘non-pollutant’ and ‘environmentally friendly’ have not been truly understood. Though they seem to be referring to the same thing yet they have little to do with each other. Biodegradable refers to the breaking down into simpler molecular forms. It has no regard for the pollutant nature of the simpler forms. A surfactant that contains phosphorous, nitrogen or toxins in its original form, would still remain active pollutants in its degraded state. As part of our collaborative efforts to build a non-toxic living environment, learning to differentiate the differences between them can make a large difference in the choice of household equipments we choose.

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Sincerely,

Bryan
www.profitmart101.com
ca