Things That Take The Longest To Decompose

No wonder archeologists keep digging up ancient glass artifacts. You might not think something that will instantly smash if you drop it could possibly last that long, but glass is almost supernaturally tough. For glass bottles tossed in landfills (or just about anywhere else) to really break, as Seattle PI reports, it can take a million years.

What is it that gives glass its nearly indestructible powers? Melted together, silica sand, lime, and soda form blobs that are then molded into bottles or whatever else. Some glass contains additives for color or opacity. The process used to be painfully slow, but mass production has enabled the infestation of stray glass bottles you can find almost everywhere on the planet. Glass can grow more brittle with age but will not decompose any faster. It could last for millennia upon millennia in a landfill, where it isn't exposed to wind or other factors that can cause erosion. After all, glassmaking is thought to have started in Egypt around 4,000 years ago, and objects that might have been touched by the pharaohs are still emerging from archeological sites.

The unnaturally long life of glass is why you need to remember to toss those bottles and jars in the recycling bin instead of the trash. Recycling glass makes enough sense because of this, but it also cuts costs and saves massive amounts of energy. As Chemical & Engineering News notes, it is also infinitely recyclable, so there is no need to waste extra resources.