What is Non-Biodegradable Substance? | Example, Treatment, Pros vs Cons

While performing our day-to-day activities, we produce substances mostly dumped as waste. Some of them are acted upon by the microorganisms like bacteria or saprophytes for energy; some are not.

Not all substances can be broken down by enzymes to generate energy. For instance, microorganisms like saprophytes or bacteria cannot break down human-made materials like plastic. Such materials can be broken down by prolonged heat and pressure. But these are all physical processes and not biological processes.

Materials or substances that biological processes cannot act upon are known as non-biodegradable substances. These substances are inactive and may continue to exist in the environment for thousands of years. Some of them may even harm an ecosystem‘s other elements and components.

Key Takeaways

1. A non-biodegradable substance is a natural material process that cannot break down into harmless components.
2. Examples of non-biodegradable substances include plastics, metals, and synthetic chemicals.
3. These substances can persist in the environment for hundreds or thousands of years, causing harm to wildlife and ecosystems.

Examples of Non-Biodegradable Substances

Most non-biodegradable substances tend to be generated by human beings in some laboratories through experimentation. Consequently, the effort to make such materials resistant to physical and biological processes is profound. The goal is to create durable substances so that the products manufactured from those substances remain unscathed long after use.

Some of the significant examples of non-biodegradable substances include:

• Polythene
• Plastic bottles
• Tetra packs
• Carbon paper
• Glass
• Human-made polymers
• E-waste, and many more.

How can Non-Biodegradable Substances be treated?

Unlike Biodegradable substances, non-biodegradable substances do not break down through the actions of microorganisms. Heat and pressure may melt them in the long run. However, the time taken by such physical processes is too long regarding the planet’s health.

Therefore, external intervention is required to accelerate such stubborn substances’ breakdown. One such intervention is the application of the waste management hierarchy.

It aims to manage non-biodegradable substances by extracting the maximum practical benefits from them while reducing their overall environmental impact. The concept of 3Rs, i.e. Reduce-Reuse-Recycle, is an essential tool of the waste management hierarchy.

1. Reducing means carefully selecting and utilising resources to generate minimal waste materials.
2. Reuse refers to the repeated utilisation of goods or their components that are still usable.
3. Finally, recycling entails converting waste material into useful resources.

Among these 3Rs, Reduce is the most efficient way of managing non-biodegradable substances and is followed by Reuse. Recycling is taken as the last resort for managing non-biodegradable substances as it tends to be very costly.

Advantages of Non-Biodegradable Substances

Some of the significant advantages of Non-biodegradable substances include the following:

1. Non-biodegradable substances are flexible and can be moulded into the manufacturer’s desired form or shape.
2. Non-biodegradable substances have a high melting point. As a result, they tend to survive even under too-high temperatures.
3. As they tend to be resistant to temperature and pressure, products manufactured with non-biodegradable substances tend to be relatively durable.
4. Products made with non-biodegradable materials tend to be lightweight. This feature enhances its portability.

Disadvantages of Non-Biodegradable Substances

The disadvantages of Non-biodegradable substances are many, specifically regarding environmental health. Some of the notable demerits of Non-biodegradable substances include:

1. Non-biodegradable substances take thousands of years to decompose. Consequently, they accumulate in the environment, which, in turn, leads to biomagnification.
2. As they accumulate, the environment becomes unclean due to water and land pollution.
3. The non-biodegradable wastes generated by human activities return to them as food grown on polluted land.
4. Animals end up consuming non-biodegradable wastes. These wastes persist in their body and gradually drive them ultimately towards death.
5. Burning of non-biodegradable substances leads to air pollution.

References

1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0043135404002362

Last Updated : 11 June, 2023