A Controllable, Photodegradable Polyethylene Film for Agriculture

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Abstract
The tremendous expansion in the use of plastics as a packaging material in the 1960s, brought with it problems of garbage disposal and littering. The growing concern and awareness of pollution and other aspects of ecology, led plastics technologists and scientific workers to inquire into the possibilities of accelerated destruction of plastic waste. This was in contrast to previous industrial endeavours to prolong the service life of its products. Less than a decade later, it seems clear that, rather than cause the degradation and subsequent disintegration of the plastic materials, it is obligatory to conserve the material resources by recycling, regenerating or by reconstitution. Moreover, the thermal energy that can be recovered from plastics by burning is a considerable asset. Even if this were not so, it is a debatable point if induced accelerated degradability would be commercially attractive except for specific applications such as the one discussed here.
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