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It's when light breaks up the chemical (covalent) bonds in the plastic's molecules, causing the plastic to break up into (hopefully) fluid substances, which either evaporate, sink into the ground and flow away, or are more easy to dispose of.

There are some metallic ions and organic groups which are good at absorbing light, so these can be used to help get light into the target bonds.

However these additives may lead to the products of the plastics' degradation being toxic.

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13y ago
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13y ago

It's not a chemical, it's plastic that is broken down by photons, such as exposure to sunlight, and ultraviolet light.

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Q: What is photo-degradation of plastic?
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