What does it mean when a product is 'Biodegradable'?

Biodegradable means 'degraded by natural bacteria'. This means that when a product is biodegradable it is eaten by natural bacteria faster than regular products.

Important!!!
Just because a product has biodegradable written on it does not mean that the product will degrade quickly. A brick is biodegradable but it will take years before it is fully broken down.

To make sure a product is really biodegradable look for the words 'readily biodegradable' on the product.  These words give a guarantee that 70% or more of the product will biodegrade within 28 days.