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Abstract Climatic and soil factors responsible for the degradation of biodegradable plastics in soil were analyzed by placing poly-(3-hydroxy-butylate-valerate) (PHB/V), poly-(ɛ:-caprolactone) (PCL), poly-(butylene succinate) (PBS), poly-butylene succinate and adipate) (PBSA), and poly-lactide (PLA) in soil at 19sites in Honshu Island, Japan for 12 months. Degradation was determined every 3 months by collecting sample specimens for the measurement of weight loss. All the polymers were found to be degradable in soil. The degradation was faster, with the following order: PBSA=PHB/V=PCL > PBS> PLA. The sum of effective temperatures (over 10°C) was correlated with the degradation of PHB/V, PCL, PBS, and PBSA. Among the soil factors, the amount of total nitrogen in soil showed a correlation with the degradation of the polymers at various sampling times. On the contrary, the amount of total carbon, the pH, and the soil texture did not show a good correlation with the degradation of the tested biodegradable plastics. Key Words: biodegradable plasticsclimatesoil nitrogensoil propertytemperature
Hoshino et al. (2001) studied this question.