Abstract：The biodegradable plastic poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate/poly(lactic acid) (PBAT/PLA) and the traditional plastic polyethylene (PE) were degraded for 9months under two typical non-biological degradation conditions, ultraviolet light (UV) and mechanical abrasion (MA). The physical and chemical properties of two kinds of plastics were analyzed by scanning electron microscope-energy spectrometer (SEM-EDS), static water contact angle, water uptake ratios and weight loss. And the quality and proportion of degradation products with different particle size were characterized by total organic carbon (TOC) assay. The results showed that PBAT/PLA exhibited greater changes in surface morphology, oxygen carbon ratio, water absorption and mass loss than PE under both UV and MA conditions. Especially under UV conditions, the quality loss rates in March, June and September reached 3.5%, 6.2% and 17.9%, respectively. Degradation product analysis showed that the quality of degradation products of PBAT/PLA were much higher than those of PE. And PE mainly produced microplastics (MPs) larger than 0.22μm, while PBAT/PLA mainly produced degradation products smaller than 0.22μm under the UV condition. In March, June and September, the proportion of mass was 83.8%, 87.2% and 79.4%, respectively. Some of the degradation products may eventually degrade to produce volatile substances. Similar to PE, PBAT/PLA produced more MPs larger than 0.22μm under the MA condition. In March, June and September, the proportion of mass was 100%、91.2%和81.7%, respectively.
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