ABSTRACT
Increasing amounts ofmunicipal solid waste (MSW), decreasing landfill capacity for disposal, slow degradation rates of MSW in sanitary landfills, slow degradation of plastic litter in the environment, generated intense interest in degradable plastics in the last quarter century. Injuries and deaths of animals, birds, fish, and other sea creatures from encounters with plastic litter received considerable publicity, as did the findings that even readily biodegradable materials, such as food and paper, degraded hardly at all in sanitary landfills in 20-30 years. What could be the expectations for plastics to degrade in such landfills?
