Under a new UK standard introduced by the British Standards Institute (BSI), within the next two years all plastic will have to break down into organic matter and carbon dioxide in the open air to be classed as biodegradable.

According to BSI, 90 percent of the organic carbon contained in plastic needs to be converted into carbon dioxide within 730 days.

However, the standard only applies to land-based plastic pollution. It doesn’t include plastic in the sea because researchers have found that biodegradable plastic bags remain unusable after three years.

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