Increasing volumes of municipal solid waste (MSW) and decreasing means of disposal are creating a serious problem in the United States. Plastic waste has been identified as a major issue even though it is still only a small portion of the total volume of MSW. In part, that is because of the relatively low rates of environmetal degradation of most plastics; in part, because plastics litter is highly visible and long lasting; in part, because forecasts predict plastics will be an even larger component of MSW in the future. The plastics and solid waste problem is receiving much attention in the United States. Several approaches to solid waste disposal are being investigated, including source reduction, recycling, composting, degradable plastics, incineration, and sanitary landfills. All are being studied intensively to overcome the serious disposal problems associated with increasing amounts of MSW. The results to date, and especially the directions being taken, are encouraging. They indicate solid waste will be disposed by multiple means and the solid waste disposal practices of the near future will be much different from those of the present time.
Degradable plastics were viewed only 1-2 years ago as an exciting new approach to help solve the solid waste problem. However, the finding that sanitary landfills are sterile environments where little degradation takes place has reduced the attraction of degradable plastics. Their attraction has been reduced also by the realization that, although packaging plastics can be made photodegradable, they are not biodegradable - their high molecular weights and structures prevent complete breakdown by organisms in reasonable time periods. Some of the former luster of degradable plastics has been tarnished because several environmental groups have been critical of attempts to take advantage of the public's considerable interest in degradable plastics to sell products which do not meet marketing claims. As a result of all these developments, interest in degradable plastics is low at this time. Other means of solving the problem, notably source reduction, recycling, composting and incineration are more likely to be adopted. Degradable plastics are not likely to play a major role as solutions to the solid waste problem.
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