Meaning & use

biodegradable

adjective·Academic

Capable of being broken down naturally by bacteria or other living organisms.

See it in a sentence

The company switched to biodegradable packaging to reduce plastic waste.

Food scraps and paper are biodegradable, but most plastics are not.

A note on using this word

Biodegradable materials break down through natural biological processes, distinct from 'recyclable,' which means reprocessed into new products.

Words with a similar meaning

compostable

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

non-biodegradable

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