Degradable?

At reference 1, I noticed a celebration involving a parcel of chocolates from Fortnum & Mason, a parcel involving some inflated plastic bags, partly for cushion, partly for thermal insulation. With the inflation being in strips, a bit like a miniature, see-thru version of the lilos one used to float on.

These plastic bags were advertised as being very ecological, I thought biodegradable. So thinking of the unsatisfactory experiment with similar bags from Neal's Yard Dairy reported at reference 3, I thought I would hang these ones up in the weather to see what would happen. Hang them out to dry, as it were.

Answer, nothing, apart from a modest amount of wind twisting. The three bags are still partially inflated and still sound, despite a month involving a lot of heat and a fair bit of rain. All that UV radiation in the middle of the day did not do the trick. They have now been put in our green dustbin for the council recycling people to ponder over - with their printed rubric 'please recycle me' by way of a clue.

And I have been reminded that it is five years since the outside of the house was decorated, and at least some of it needs doing again. Our painter had explained at the time that Dulux Weathershield gloss paint was not the fine paint it used to be, with all the essential oils banned by one EU directive or other. Maybe getting this once fine British paint back up to the mark is somewhere on the Cummings agenda.

Furthermore, with the near extinction of timber windows and doors, there is nothing like the range of colours that there used to be. Not enough demand.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-modest-celebration.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-last-cheese-delivery.html. The first report of the current experiment.

Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/07/cheese-supplies.html. The first report of the first experiment.

Reference 4: https://www.dulux.co.uk/. The paint people.