Shyam went to a grocery shop to purchase some food items . The shopkeeper packed all the items in polythene bags and gave them to Shyam . But Shyam refused to accept the polythene bags and asked the shopkeepers to pack the items in papar bags . He informed the shopkeeper about the heavy penalty imposed by the government for using polythene bags . The shopkeeper promised that he would use paper bags in future in place of polythene bags.
Answer the following :
(a) Write the values (at least two) shown by Shyam .
(b) Write one structural difference between low-density polythene and high-density polythene .
(c) Why did Shyam refuse to accept the items in polythene bags ?
(d) What is a biodegradable polymer ? Give an example .

Explanation

(a) Shyam is a law abiding citizen and he is concerned about the environment .
(b) Low-density polythene has highly branched structure and having molecular mass of about 20,000 whereas high-density polythene consists of linear chains .
(c) Polyethene bags are non-biodegradable . Polythene bags are unsafe for environment and government has banned the polythene bags to protect the environment .
(d) Biodegradable polymers are those which get decompose by the action of bacteria , by enzymatic hydrolysis , by oxidattion . Example : PHBV (poly-`beta`-hydrozybutyrate-co-`beta`-hydroxy valerate.)