Sorry - another question! Biodegradeable vs Degradeable

[BecauseImWorthIt]

What's the difference? I've bought some bin bags which are degradeable - is this the same as biodegradeable or does it mean something different?

[confused emoticon]

i have a feeling biodegradeable means it is made of natural plant materials and will degrade, and degradeable means it is made of any man made material that will degrade. Not 100% sure tho!

That's what I suspected but wasn't sure! I'll read the back of the pack to see if it says more.

Found this on a website:

There are a number of words used to describe different systems for degrading plastics. The most important are explained below:
Degradable, Totally Degradable and Oxo-biodegradable
All these terms refer to the same system and include technologies which are similar to d2w?. The common feature of these is that the progress of the primary degradation depends on any combination of light, heat, stress and air.
Biodegradable, Hydro-biodegradable
These terms are also the same as one another and refer to technologies where the degradation depends on the plastics being in a biologically active environment - for example, in compost - and where the destruction of the material is a result of its consumption by microbes.

From this description it can be seen that Degradable plastics will disappear in all the same locations as Biodegradable plastics. The reverse, however, is not the case as Biodegradable plastics will not degrade unless, for example, they are buried.

So it seems that degradable could be better than biodegradable?

website was www.degradable.net, by the way

Ah ha. That's really interesting, yes it would seem degradable is better, and I would have thought it the other way 'round. Thanks.