TIL in the Carboniferous Period, no fungus existed to decompose trees. They just grew on top of each other up and up. - eviltoast

The weight of the trees was so great that the ones on the bottom got squished and became coal. That’s where coal is from. Bonus fact: the whole time this was happening, sharks were hunting in the oceans. Sharks are older than trees and fungus!

  • teft@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    29
    ·
    4 months ago

    If your plastic container decomposes as rapidly as a cardboard box, it will quickly become much less usefull.

    How so? Plastic would retain its current properties, just something may break it down over time. Wood is still useful after all.

    • nednobbins@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      4 months ago

      It would depend on how well we can control it.

      Ideally the material would be completely nonreactive for as long as you’re using it and then instantly degrade into component elements.

      The faster things degrade, the higher the chance that they’ll degrade when you don’t want it to.