Is PLA for 3D printing really biodegradable? I've buried and drowned Benchy for 2 years to find out!

2 years ago, I've burried and drowned a few 3D printed Benchies to see just how biodegradable PLA really is. It's actually much more complicated than you might think.
Special thank you to Stefan from CNC Kitchen for guest appearance! He'll also perform all the tests next year, which I'm very excited for.
* Project PLA update *
Sadly, it appears that ProjectPLA has since shut down, so I've removed the link. If you're looking for an alternative, please check TerraCycle:
www.terracycle.com
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* Attributions *
"Biodegradable PLA cups" image by Cmglee.
"PLA tea bags" image by Elke Wetzig.
"Recycling bins" image by Terence Ong.
Some footage by Pressmaster, shakeel akbar and KML (www.pexels.com).
Some sound effects by Cheeseheadburger, InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) and CGEffex.

[@SirYenner]

I printed a "temporary" PLA thing to hold a small solar panel. So far it's survived 6 years of the Australian sun and still going well.

[@killdeer]

"Don't print useless things" 1 second later "So I printed 24 hooks"

[@phoemur]

Look, if normal petroleum plastics could take up to 1000 years to decompose, than even if PLA took 50 years It would be considered highly biodegradable.

[@jorteron-lx3ev]

We have been deceived. This Artificial biodegradable PLA are advertised as naturally biodegradable plastic. This is huge.

[@ThantiK]

PLA is not

[@Paratyphi]

There's no way i send my failed prints to a recycling facility. I prefer having a full bag of them waiting patiently for the day i'll be able to recycle them myself.

[@ColdFuse96]

The part with the plane at the beginning 😂🤣😂🤣😂

[@nicholasweiss4662]

Even though PLA is pretty much not bio degradable it is still better than other plastics like ABS because it is made from renewable resources and apart from processing almost co2 neutral. Even if you burn PLA you only add the co2 that corn plants took from the atmosphere before. If you burn ABS on the other hand, you add co2 that was sealed in the form of oil for millions of years.

[@pawpatina]

Biodegradable means years.... Like nuclear half life. Only the newest most cutting edge Bio materials dissolve that fast and they are basically made of mushroom and sawdust...

[@KarlLew]

PLA is great. I use it for garden fittings with full sun exposure. Earthen colored PLA lasts longer than natural, even longer than white HDPE. Broken PLA goes in the garbage can. I therefore use it sparingly. I dont have the space for wood CNC.

[@umbratherios5614]

been using plain PLA in my aquarium for more than 2 years. specifically, I printed a filter... and its still working perfectly.

[@captainboing]

Wow! Good work. "Don't print useless stuff you don't need" I wear it as a badge of honour that I have never printed a "benchy" in 4 years of printing and thousands of properly useful, small-run production items and tools

[@ajlbeer]

Thanks for doing this. It's really something I feared was the case. There should be stricter guidelines on marketing claims like "ECO friendly".

[@dr_j0nes]

Thank you! This opened my eyes. I will now start to collect my failed prints in a separate bin and contact an PLA recycling service when it is full.

[@tistione]

Now that's priority mail! Great special effects with the plane, really improved since the previous video.

[@khatunamna]

I'm doing a PhD on biodegradable microplastic and the reference you used are the ones I have read. The surface area to volume ratio is small if using whole piece to test, maybe grind it to smaller pieces you will see some changes

[@justin_time]

Thank you for presenting the facts, especially in an unbiased manner!

[@marutiroma6295]

A thousand thanks !!!! I was afraid that this would be the case and you had great courage in making this video. I will follow the Project Plan. Thanks again.

[@fsix3451]

Thank you! That is important to know. I always thought it is biodegradable. The video quality is excellent too🙂

[@jolio81]

I'm using 3D printed PLA parts in a product I'm selling. The "biodegradable" aspect of PLA had always worried me until I watched your video. Great information! Thanks!