Enhanced Environmental Degradation of Plastics

Abstract

Intensive research in the last two decades on the degradation of commercial plastics has led to the development of new methods of degradation and innumerable experimental techniques to characterize the degraded products. During the period 1970–1980, there have been substantial advances in most of the important aspects of polymer degradation including that induced by heat, light, oxygen, high energy radiation, photooxidation, and biological factors; and accounts have been given at various times of the current position in most of these [1–30].