I reached up to the top shelf of my closet, where I keep a plastic bag of plastic shopping bags. I needed to re-line the bin in my room.
Suddenly, a shower of plastic confetti rained on me. For about five seconds, I stood still with my hand up-stretched.
Huh?
I pulled the bag of bags down and watched further disintegration happen. Nervously, I reached in to pull out the largest chunk of plastic remains.
I was thinking that insects might have invaded my closet for food. If so, they would be insects with poor taste, forgoing the tasty woollen jumpers on the bottom shelf for plastic bags from Tesco.
However, I soon discounted this theory. Poking around in the bag, it was apparent that only one plastic bag had fallen apart. The others were untouched.
My current theory is that it had been biodegradable plastic bag. I am surprised that I’ve been able to witness the degradation in action.
Those biodegradable plastic bags are often made from plant starch I believe. Some day I’m going to try eating one for dinner.
That definitely sounds like a biodegraded shopping bag!
I had a similar experience a few months ago. I left one of these bags in a drawer for a long time (about a year, I think) and it had started to confetti-ize. As I tried to grab, collect or pick up bits of the bag, it only disintegrated further and made an even greater mess. Argh! It’s like one of those dreams you have where the harder you try to get out of a hold, the further you dig yourself in.
But the vacuum cleaner took care of it.
Luckily, my smithereens were caught in a traditional lasts-eternity-in-a-landfill plastic bag.