Watched a plastic fork dissolve in my coffee last Saturday morning

I left a disposable fork in my coffee cup on the porch for like 2 hours and when I came back it was literally bending and breaking apart in the liquid. Has anyone else noticed how fast that stuff breaks down these days, or is it just me?

2 comments

2 Comments

linda1141mo ago

Honestly, I think you might be mixing up a few things there. Plastic forks don't just dissolve in coffee like that unless it's some special compostable kind. Regular plastic forks are made of polystyrene or polypropylene, and those take hundreds of years to break down, not two hours. What you saw was probably a biodegradable fork made from PLA or something similar, which is designed to break down in heat or moisture. I've definitely seen those get soft and crumble in hot coffee before. So yeah, it's not all plastic, just the eco-friendly stuff that acts like that.

murphy.aaron1mo ago

Ha, come on. Is it really that deep though? Like yeah, okay, some forks are special compostable ones and those get all soft and gross in hot coffee, but does it really matter that much in the moment? I've seen people get worked up over a fork getting floppy and it just seems like such a small thing to get hung up on. Worst case scenario you have to switch to a spoon or just drink your coffee faster before the whole thing turns into a mess. Not exactly a crisis.