Select and write the two biodegradable wastes from the given list: Styrofoam, Metallic cans, Decaying fruits, Plastic bottles, Newspapers

DECAYING FRUITS and NEWSPAPERS.

Biodegradable wastes are those that can be BROKEN DOWN by decomposers — bacteria and fungi — into simpler substances that return to the soil.

DECAYING FRUITS — organic matter; it is already decaying, which is the clue. NEWSPAPERS — made of paper, which comes from wood pulp and is therefore plant material.

The other three are NON-biodegradable: Styrofoam and plastic bottles are synthetic polymers that no organism has enzymes to break down, and metallic cans are inorganic (they corrode slowly, but that is rusting, not decomposition).

THE TEST TO APPLY: ask whether the substance was ever ALIVE or came from something alive. Fruit and paper both did; plastic, Styrofoam and metal did not. That single question sorts almost every list of this kind.

Note that newspapers catch students out precisely because they look manufactured — but paper is plant material and composts readily.