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Some things last a lifetime – and not in a good way. Last month, Blisstree told you about three of the worst things you can put in a landfill, and we’re back with more. Here are five of the least biodegradable things you can toss, and what you can do instead:
Do NOT put this in a landfill!
Plastic Sandwich Bags
A moment on your sandwich, a lifetime – or five – in the landfill: The little bag you use to wrap your midday meals can take up to 400 years to decompose in a landfill. Try wrapping in paper or using a reusable wrap, instead.
Paint
You don’t need your half-used bucket of paint, but neither does the environment. Most paints contain toxic solvents, heavy metals, and some older paints still contain mercury, so even if you’re totally over the idea of painting your bathroom orange, you shouldn’t dump your bad decor choice in the trash. The best way to get rid of it is to donate it for reuse, but you can also bring oil-based paints to local hazardous waste disposal centers.
Aluminum Soda Can
The flimsy tin cans that hold your Diet Coke are easy to recycle, but they take 350 years to decompose in a landfill. So recycle them. Duh.
Household Batteries
Household batteries take hundreds of years to decompose, and many still contain mercury, cadmium, and other toxic metals that leach out of landfills and are dangerous to humans and animals. The average American discards around eight batteries a year. That totals three billion per year just in the U.S. – enough to cause considerable mercury and toxic metal contamination. The best way to reduce waste is to use rechargeable batteries, but you can get rid of single-use batteries at local recycling centers.
Plastic Six-Pack Rings
Everyone knows that these can kill some ocean mammals, fish, and birds if they end up in the water, but even if they go where they “belong” (a landfill), they take about 450 years to break down. They’re pretty tough to recycle in low quantities, so try to buy drinks in recyclable bottles instead.
