I read the most interesting article about common household litter, and how long it takes to biodegrade. I was truly amazed at the amount of time certain things take to even start to break down.

I will go through, with you, some of the items discussed in the article. Fruit is great at biodegrading and is also great for the earth. Paper is pretty good too; it takes about a month to completely break down. Cotton rags biodegrade in about 5 months, and wool socks can take up to a year. Cigarette butts take 2-5 years to break down; they should never be thrown anywhere but in a trash (or butt) receptacle.

These next items biodegrade very slowly, this is quite alarming, a leather boot takes 40-50 years, and the rubber sole of the boot 50-80 years. Tin cans 80-100 years, these should be recycled anyhow. Aluminum cans take 200-500 years and should also be recycled. A plastic 6-pack soda ring takes 450 years. It is hard to believe that an item that small can take that long to break down! A plastic jug amazingly takes 1 million years to biodegrade. Styrofoam cups and glass bottles take......FOREVER?? Scientists have not been able to track the breaking down of Styrofoam and glass; they have never seen it broken down completely.