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Biotech Science

Corn-Based Plastic 305

Posted by michael from the colonel-redenbacher dept.
SolemnDragon writes "CNN.com is offering up an article about the new corn-based plastic-like product being used at Wild Oats Natural Markets. The product looks like plastic, works like plastic... and then turns into compost. Dubbed the 'corn-tainer,' it's being used to serve foods, etc. Available only in the Pacific Northwest stores (of course) or you can make your own at home. And here's more info on Bio-plastic from MSU." Our older story.
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Corn-Based Plastic More

Corn-Based Plastic

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  • I thought of a joke (Score:4, Funny)

    by Exiler ( 589908 ) on Friday June 13, 2003 @08:26PM (#6196663)
    but it was corny, so nevermind

  • How long till it decays (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mpost4 ( 115369 ) * on Friday June 13, 2003 @08:27PM (#6196670) Homepage Journal
    will it be usefull for storing things for long periods of time, say you wish to store something in a bag (non-food) and leave it for years (lets say like pictures) will the bag decay on you? Will I need to use classic plastic to store non-food stuff?

    • yes (Score:5, Funny)

      by SHEENmaster ( 581283 ) <travis&utk,edu> on Friday June 13, 2003 @09:17PM (#6196899) Homepage Journal
      but Classic Plastic will be outlawed due to its effect on the environment. It will then be discovered that it can act as a halucinegen. America will declare war on plastics, and the libertarian party [lp.org] will be ignored for standing up for our right to buy and use plastics.

    • biodegradable containers have been around for a (Score:5, Informative)

      by Bob Bitchen ( 147646 ) on Friday June 13, 2003 @09:38PM (#6196974) Homepage
      couple of years now Earthshell [earthshell.com] has been making biodegradable containers for a while, McDonalds already uses them. And so does the National Park Service.

    • Re:How long till it decays (Score:4, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 13, 2003 @10:40PM (#6197245)
      The short answer to your question is... it depends.

      Depending on the final processing of the PLA pellets, the time frame/conditions necessary for decomposition can vary greatly (e.g. amorphous vs. crystallized pellets, additives used). It's my understanding that PLA can even be formulated to last as long as "traditional" plastics.

      I was involved with the engineering and startup of the Cargill Dow PLA facility in Blair in 2001-2002. I had several opportunities to talk personally with some of the research chemists who developed the product formulations and perfected the manufacturing process.
    • if WonderBread won't decay after years and years untouched in my fridge, I don't see why this stuff should fade any quicker.

      update: the Wonderbread looks a little mildewy around the bottom. Still edible though, as much as it ever was. Thanks for asking.
    • I would think that people want the container to decay. Food doesn't last unless its preserved and even then it's not forever. Canned foods are only supposed to a have a shelf life of a few years. Some military rations can last 20 years or more. But after that who really wants to eat the food anyway?
    • For disposable dishes, these [everythingearth.com] are probably the most ecologically sound.

      They are made from leaves which are pressed into the shape of dishes or bowls. Not only are they biodegradable, but they require hardly any energy for their production, unlike plastics made from corn, which require lots of energy in production.

      I have actually used these plates, and they seem to work at least as well as paper plates.

  • Did someone say... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 13, 2003 @08:27PM (#6196676)
    cr0n?

  • Wait... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Tyrdium ( 670229 )
    I thought that pens with the barrels made of a corn-based plastic have already been on the market for a few years... I remember seeing them in a few stores...

    • Re:Wait... (Score:2, Informative)

      by igorxa ( 541200 )
      i had one of these pens, MANY years ago. and you can still get them. see here [ueco.ab.ca] for at least one option. the barrels used to say that they were made of corn, and were biodegradable. they used to come in yellow bodies with green caps. not the prettiest pen, but at least it was environmentally friendly.

      • Re:Wait... (Score:2, Interesting)

        by ajs318 ( 655362 )
        Why does a pen need to be biodegradable? Why not just make it to last forever? It runs out of ink - you fill it with ink from a glass bottle. The bottle runs out of ink - you refill it from a tanker. The nib breaks - you fit a new nib and recycle the old one.

        Not rocket science, is it?

  • Sounds Fantastic -- Now Why Not Hemp (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Nom du Keyboard ( 633989 ) on Friday June 13, 2003 @08:28PM (#6196683)
    This is one of those genuinely good things to happen, if it plays out as good as it sounds now. Nice to see good news at the end of the week.

    I wish we were as forward looking on legal products from hemp, which I would also consider a good thing.

    (Not a troll promoting or encouraging illegal drug use.)

    • Well, the best legal use of hemp would be paper (like the type the U. S. Constitution is written on) that holds up well over time. Then again, hemp paper + illegal hemp product = more high?

      • Re:Sounds Fantastic -- Now Why Not Hemp (Score:5, Interesting)

        by billstewart ( 78916 ) on Friday June 13, 2003 @08:58PM (#6196827) Journal
        The best legal uses for hemp included smoking the flowers - that requires fixing the laws to match the US Constitution, rather than doing anything technical with the hemp :-) After all, the original copies of the Constitution seem to have stuck around long after anybody in government bothered to read the words on them. Other useful things to do are making hemp cloth, paper, rope, edible seeds, etc. However, I've found that hemp papers sometimes curl a bit too much in laser printers to work very well (or at least, they're not very useful for printing double-sided, because they don't flatten out as well for printing the back side.)


        However, using hemp rolling papers won't affect the THC content of your smoke, because it's got pretty close to none in it. The paper is made from those stems you didn't need, and it's made from hemp plants that were bred for big fibrous stems, not big tasty buds or leaves. As the label for one brand of hemp-based clothing says "Sorry, but you can't smoke your shirt."

        It's possible that using hemp rolling papers will make the contents burn faster or slower or hotter or less hot than dead-tree papers, but you really ought to be smoking from a bong or some other device that'll cool the smoke and reduce lung irritation. However, selling devices that improve public health by reducing the harm caused by illegal substances is illegal in many states, so you're not allowed to print out this message on hemp-based paper with soy-based ink to roll joints in.

    • This isn't a troll... well, I guess it is, but it's a valid question.

      What's the benefits of hemp for making products? It sure seems to me that pro-hemp people work hard to make hemp work in a variety of situations not because hemp would do the job well, but just to say "look! you can do it with hemp! hemp == good!!".

      If it really is good in a particular situation and I'm way off, I'd like to hear..

      • Re:Sounds Fantastic -- Now Why Not Hemp (Score:5, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 13, 2003 @09:06PM (#6196859)
        It actually would be quite useful in a number of situations.

        For paper let's consider the fact that not all paper is of the same grade. There is packaging paper products, crappy paper drink containers at movie places, writing paper, and toilet paper. I personally wouldn't want to be wiping with hemp paper as it's a bit rough, but for packaging paper and shaped paper drink holders it'd work great.

        Some of the really great things about hemp is it doesn't leach minerals out of the ground at anywhere near the same rate cotton does, nor does it take anywhere near as long to grow as a tree. In fact, I may have heard it is the single fastest growing biomass plant in the world, though you may want to check me on that.

        The thing about it's biomass is that it can be turned into biofuel. Not totally sure how, but I know the idea behind it is sound.

        It's interesting to take a look at the prohibiton of hemp, which occured simultaneously with the prohibition on cannabis, and look at some of the people who contributed to it being made illegal. I don't recall all but I know Dow, some national wood producer, and some oil companies were involved. I think it's all detailed in the book "The Emperor Wears no Clothes" by Jack Hanna or something like that.

        My favorite website for news on prohibition, general civil liberties abuse, and marijuana is www.marijuana.com [marijuana.com]
        • That's The Emperor Wears No Clothes [tatteredcover.com] by Jack Herer.
        • In fact, I may have heard [hemp] is the single fastest growing biomass plant in the world, though you may want to check me on that.

          Having seen what Kudzu can do in the South East US, I'd have to question this. Not sure that Kudzu is the fastest, but as a vine, it can grow in many different directions and not really reach a stopping point during the growing season. Hemp just goes up and even well fertilized, I would imagine does reach some type of stopping point eventually.
          • Yep. And hops too. They grow FAR faster than hemp, at least in terms of height/length. Also like kudzu, it's a perennial vine, so it just doesn't stop. Hemp is an annual crop.

            Just a random data point.
      • Most pro-hemp kids I run into don't understand the difference between legalizing hemp and legalizing THC-marijuana. I'm all for legalizing (and regulating and taxing) both, but I think that hemp has the greater value. If done right, growing copious crops of non-THC hemp could reduce our nasty habit of deforestation (to an extent) and really help out companies like Weyerhaeuser. It's not the end-all-be-all solution to cutting down trees, but it's a good start.

        The paper industries would benefit from the
        • Most pro-hemp kids I run into don't understand the difference between legalizing hemp and legalizing THC-marijuana.

          Really? Most hemp advocates I've run into talk endlessly about exactly that point (e.g., how very-low-THC varieties could be grown).

          I gotta admit, they talk a good talk; I'm looking forward to the all-hemp utopia in our future... :-)
        • The thing is, just cutting down trees doesn't lead to deforestation. Usually, it takes either agriculture and urbanization in order to get rid of forestland. Forests have a tendency to grow back when humans stop plowing into the soil or constantly managing their lawns.

          Using hemp would be nice, but there are some problems. First of all, you need someplace to grow it. With genetically modified crops, we can grow more food per acre, and thus free up farmland to grow hemp. However, there is currently c

      • Hemp has strong, flexible and long fibers, thus the traditional use of hemp to make rope. Also good for other fiber related things, such as paper, fabrics and so on...

        I do not know how fast it grows, but faster than corn anyway, hemp is always twice as tall as corn stalks later in summer. Don't try to hide your plants with a few rows of corn, it will get too tall. :)

      • Re:Sounds Fantastic -- Now Why Not Hemp (Score:5, Informative)

        by zogger ( 617870 ) on Friday June 13, 2003 @09:33PM (#6196955) Homepage Journal
        Huge yields per acre without having to use massive amounts of fertiliser. Food, fuel, fabric,other fiber products,and plastics. Large variety of useful products from the same plant. Requires very little care. When I was a kid, there were still a lot of wild patches left over from world war 2, when they did an emergency "grow this stuff now" campaign after the phillipines fell to the japanese. No one thought about smoking it though, but I remember playing in one patch that was several acres, stuff was like 15 feet high or something, big plants.

        Farmers could even afford to only harvest half the plant, plow the remainder back under, thereby making your soil every year better, not more depleted, by adding more carbon back into the surface layer.

        It scares the monopolists. Places where it's legal have zero problems with it, none.

        Nope, government is a 100% complete %^&*&**( about it, too much money to be made keeping it illegal and keeping the drug war hype going, shoot, that was the really big police state push, they got everyone to accept all this gestapo SWAT team crap and whatnot with that artifical "threat". I mean, c'mon now, pothead terrorists? People who sit around and eat and listen to records? (well, that's what I saw in the olden days, maybe it's different now) And all the useful stuff you can get from it besides psychoactive? It's a joke, government is out to lunch on it, but, they dig those billions they make on the side and they get to build prisons and have new agencies and use up all that po-leece equipment they have kicking around the po-leece station.....

        My take is, God got all these things, they all got a use, we get to use them, use the planet, plus we are supposed to be neat, sorta take care of things too, there's our ecological balance idea. Makes sense to me.. We may not know WHAT some things are useful for yet-like chiggers, wazzup with them things?- but, everything is useful, and no government should say "no you don't", that's just bogus.

        • Money, zogger, money. That's the real reason the Feds don't want to change the laws. I mean, think of all the unemployed DEA agents......ah, ok, probably the real reason the F. doesn't want to legalize weed is it would invalidate all this BS they've been feeding the public for decades, and we all know how the gov hates to have egg on their faces. Hmph.

          Now lots of cops I've met, especially in small towns, would like to see maryjane off the books. It'd give them more time to go after more serious stuff.

          F'
        • If you want the whole story of hemp in America, get "The Emperor Wears no Clothes", by Jack Herer. Has the history, the uses, and the politics involved in hemp. Good read, and quite a versatile plant I must say.

        • Nope, government is a 100% complete %^&*&**( about it, too much money to be made keeping it illegal and keeping the drug war hype going

          Why blame the govt.? Marijuana legalization does come up for a vote [cnn.com] once in a while, and loses, though that Alaska margin in fairly slim.

          Also, I wonder if the drug war would really be all that different if marijuana were legalized... In fact here in NM every summer there's a "smoke-in" where people sit in the park and openly smoke marijuana, and the police ju

      • Paraphrased for slashdot.

        This isn't a troll... well, I guess it is, but it's a valid question.

        What's the benefits of linux for running products? It sure seems to me that pro-linux people work hard to make linux work in a variety of situations not because linux would do the job well, but just to say "look! you can do it with linux! linux == good!!".

        If it really is good in a particular situation and I'm way off, I'd like to hear..
    • I wish we were as forward looking on legal products from hemp

      But here's where the hemp lobby shoots itself in the foot. The hemp evangelist who isn't in it with ulterior motives doesn't seem to exist.

      I did my undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which happens to be about six blocks from the state capitol. Annually, hemp evangelists would descend on the capitol building to hold what they themselves called a "smoke-in" (great marketing move, that), during which they would sit arou

  • [discover.com]
    Just do what these guys are doing and recycle all the carbon and metal and such to make new oil and metals etc.
    • That's a pretty interesting article. For a while I've figured that one day people would start mining old landfills for raw materials; maybe that might come sooner than later.

      It's funny that they're focusing on turkey guts though. From the article:

      Today, here at the plant at Philadelphia's Naval Business Center, the experimental feedstock is turkey processing-plant waste: feathers, bones, skin, blood, fat, guts. A forklift dumps 1,400 pounds of the nasty stuff into the machine's first stage, a 350-horsepo

  • Corn (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 13, 2003 @08:29PM (#6196689)
    Finally! I'm rich! I have never owned a computer, tech stocks, etc... but I have been farming corn for the past 50 years! Finally!

    Getting too much pr0n? [porn-free.org]

  • Obligatory Comments (Score:5, Funny)

    by Eberlin ( 570874 ) on Friday June 13, 2003 @08:32PM (#6196701) Homepage
    That's a-maize-ing!
    That's one way to compile your kernel.
    Hey, guess what I managed to cobb-le together.
    Make plastic or make tequila...tough choice.
    Lastly, I am Cornholio...do you have TP for my bunghole?
    • those are all pretty corny.

      btw i believe it is whiskey that is made from corn.

    • As some others have pointed out, corn just makes a relatively flavorless ethanol: that everclear stuff with the corn on the label.

      Most other liquors are 'cut' with this cheap grain alcohol to make them more profitable.

  • Economics (Score:5, Insightful)

    by meta-monkey ( 321000 ) on Friday June 13, 2003 @08:32PM (#6196704) Journal
    Bio degradable better for the environment blah blah blah.

    Nobody's going to use it except in a few niche markets unless it's cheaper to mass-produce than good ol' synthetic plastic. That will take a long time to achieve.

    Actually, even if it did replace plastic, I'm not sure it would be better for the environment. Now you need to mass-mass produce corn. Agricultural run-off can be pretty destructive, too, not to mention the effects of irrigation on natural waterways. TANSTAAFL.

    • Re:Economics (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Dolohov ( 114209 ) on Friday June 13, 2003 @08:46PM (#6196778)
      Like the title of your post says, it's economics, and to a greater extent, politics. Forget the environmental argument, compelling as it may be to some people. I'm more interested in reducing the country's consumption of petroleum for both economic reasons (It's largely an import-only product at this point) and political reasons (We tend to import it from people who don't particularly like us).

      Those two considerations alone are, I think, enough to provoke a restructuring of our farm subsidies to make these plastics considerably cheaper in a very short period of time.
      • Except that plastics are often made from petroleum distilates, so by reducing normal plastic you are reducing petrol usage.

        I think all plastics should be made from more natural materials, they degrade better and aren't using finite resources. Nobody needs a store carrier bag that lasts thousands of years.

    • Re:Economics (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      the US already ass-produces corn...ever wonder why if you buy soda in europe it contains sugar, but buy in the US and its pumped full of corn syrup?

      we're talking major subsidies to farmers.

      not really sure if this is a good thing.

  • Corn-based plastic. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Crusty Oldman ( 249835 ) on Friday June 13, 2003 @08:33PM (#6196706)
    .
    They coat it with sugar, stamp it into interesting shapes, and call it "breakfast cereal".
  • The plates and embal to the food served, under the 1994 olympcs in Lillehammer, was made of potatos.

    Where have this gone?

    Why dont the use this at McDonnalds (a biker gang for Carl Barks fans?)
    If Ronald dont care about the enviroment he must clearly see the practical
    an economic advantage of this product.

    "we're all out of (freedom/french/*um like whatevah*)fries, but we have some lovely fried cups"

    @ who acctually shuld had posted this anonymsly, and no heading for the bed
  • Condoms made of this stuff would be fun. Think of Beavis' alter ego.

  • Mmm, kernels! (Score:2, Funny)

    by laukev7 ( 666245 )
    If we could use corn plastic in computers, could we use kernels for Linux?

  • Cargill and Dow (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Kagato ( 116051 ) on Friday June 13, 2003 @08:40PM (#6196748)
    Cargill and Dow have had a comercial Corn based platic for years. It enviromentally safe, degrades when when Heat, Mosture, and Darkness are applied. However, because of the way our Ag system works, petro based platic is still cheaper.
    • Some grocery stores here in MN started using bio-degradable, corn-based plastic bags at the checkout over 10 years ago.
      • Some grocery stores here in MN started using bio-degradable, corn-based plastic bags at the checkout over 10 years ago.

        I was just thinking about those. I remember them very well. IIRC - they were susposed to break down with in a few months of exposure to sun light.

        Unfortunatly, they did have the tendancy to break down with in a few feet of the front of the store.

  • It's kind of ironic (Score:2, Insightful)

    by dysprosia ( 661648 )
    We have natural resources like corn, tapioca (which can also be used to make plastic bags), and even banana fibre, which can't be pulped down but can be made into superstrong paper and card, yet we create still plastics which don't biodegrade and cause harm to the environment....

  • Disney uses this... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by JTFritz ( 15573 ) * <jeffreytfritzNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Friday June 13, 2003 @08:51PM (#6196800) Homepage Journal
    Disney uses a product like this at all of their theme parks. When you get "plastic" utensils at a restaraunt in the park, it's actually this stuff.

    Great for the environment considering how much garbage Disney generates.

    Feel free to interpret that last statement any way you wish :)

  • Foretold in "Cradle to Cradle" (Score:4, Informative)

    by iiii ( 541004 ) on Friday June 13, 2003 @08:52PM (#6196804) Homepage
    This kind of thing was described/foretold/requested in the book "Cradle to Cradle" [slashdot.org], by William McDonough & Michael Braungart, which after reading the /. review I bought and read. (BTW, here is their [mbdc.com] company [mbdc.com]) An interesting read. Lots of propaganda, but lots of really good ideas, and a few real results, too. Other related links here [mcdonough.com] and here [amazon.com].
  • If the bords in our computers where made instead of whith glass and petrocemicals but with plant fibers and plant based plastics we would be able to by degade them whene they where nolonger usfule. It would simplify the extraction of the presious metals that are in them. No longer would the computer reciling firms in asia nead to us toxic cemicals but instead they could use vibrating screens and magnets .
    • The fibreglass isn't the toxic part of system boards, it's the lead and flux. Not to mention that I can see organic fibre boards catching fire when you try to solder them.
    • Perhaps I could take this post seriously if its spelling didn't resemble that of a toddler with Tourette's and a heroin habit.

  • like foxes building the henhouse (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SuperBanana ( 662181 ) on Friday June 13, 2003 @09:20PM (#6196910)
    "My impression is this (company) is motivated by people who know we can't go on burning oil and not destroy our climate," said Ritchie, whose group has been working with Cargill Dow and other companies to create a set of sustainable farming standards for bio-industrial crops. These standards, he said, would emphasize renewing soil fertility, protecting scarce water resources and reducing fertilizers and pesticides.

    Last time I looked, Cargill makes a SHITLOAD of money off pesticides, fertilizers, animal feed chemicals, and so on- just check out their website if you don't believe me. We're supposed to believe they're working on stuff that will eliminate/reduce demand for those products?

    What's Cargill going to sell, information booklets? Patent the compost process? :-)

  • Why, Gramps used to use a good ol' corn-cob pipe. You can make all kinds of decorative and useful utensils and home decorations out of corn cobs. Don't throw them out!

  • Plastic Pollution (Score:5, Informative)

    by tbmaddux ( 145207 ) * on Friday June 13, 2003 @09:48PM (#6197005) Homepage Journal
    In case you're wondering why plastic is bad, visit the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. [algalita.org] They have done cruises into the Pacific Ocean and found tiny pieces of plastic that outnumber zooplankton 6 to 1. [algalita.org] Plastic "nurdles" or little unprocessed beads of plastic are the number 1 beach polluter in southern California. They sorb hydrophobic toxins (DDT, PCBs and the like) and then poison the critters that eat them.

  • Sounds familiar (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Bobartig ( 61456 ) on Friday June 13, 2003 @09:52PM (#6197016)
    We had something like this at my college. It was a grain based plastic-like material for disposable flatware (forks, spoons, knives). The material was billed as a replacement to plastic utensils and would fully biodegrade in landfills within 30-45 days. The material was also very bitter, overly flexy/soft, and became limp when heated to the temperature of hot food. Hopefully, this material is entirely different
  • Buy stock in Iowa!

    (And don't forget to sell SCO short!)

    Disclaimer: This post in no way constitutes financial or legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell financial products. Entities mentioned may have unforseen liabilities or may not even be actively traded on a recognized stock exchange. Please consult a lawyer, SEC filings, three senators, and a monk from Llhasa before engaging in trade.

  • Not only good for the environment (Score:3, Funny)

    by FuzzyBad-Mofo ( 184327 ) <fuzzybad AT gmail DOT com> on Friday June 13, 2003 @10:27PM (#6197188)

    It's also much better tasting than the alternative, Plastic based Corn.

  • ^the subject is the funny part^
  • Those newfangled packing "peanuts" have the exact consistency of bleached cheetos, and darned if dusting them with a little salt and cheese solids doesn't make them taste just the same, too!

  • I know my popcorn well enough... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by cybermace5 ( 446439 ) <g.ryan@macetech.com> on Saturday June 14, 2003 @12:03AM (#6197526) Homepage Journal
    ...to know that michael meant to say "from the orville-redenbacher dept."

    Corn keeps coming up in the news, with more and more uses. There is a corn-based fuel that's gaining popularity in Minnesota, especially among street rodders. Apparently it has a little more zip than gasoline, and hey, renewable energy (plus the by-products are still useful as animal feed). Corn is the most cost-effective solar cell we'll ever have.

    But you know, in a hundred years, when our great-grandkids all drive corn-powered cars and use corn-plastic products, the alternative-energy quacks will just whine about Big Corn keeping them down.
  • Henry Ford made car panels from soybeans in the 30's.

    Henry Ford and His Magic Beanstalk [thesoydailyclub.com]

    From the article:
    By late 1937 Ford's research laboratory, under the direction of youthful, self-trained Robert Boyer, had developed a curved plastic sheet Ford hoped would replace steel in automobile bodies. A few weeks later the magnate called in reporters, jumped up and down on the unbending sheet and triumphantly exclaimed, "If that was steel, it would have caved in." He added "Almost all new cars will soon be ma

  • What about allergies to corn? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ChrisKnight ( 16039 ) on Saturday June 14, 2003 @12:14AM (#6197565) Homepage
    My GF is allergic to corn and corn products. If she was ate deli food that was packaged in this it could cause a severe allergic reaction.

    Are these things marked as a corn product?

    -Chris
  • Since I live in the Portland, OR metro area, I've had a chance to try out these corntainers... looks just like plastic. It looks like the only drawback is that you can't microwave'em - they've got a little sticker on them reminding you not to (I suspect they'll just melt, but I haven't tried it yet as the container is still holding salsa).

    I do have to wonder, though, is corn really all that environmentally friendly? I mean it takes a good amount of fuel to run those tractors and to transport the stuff.
  • As only one (!) poster has already pointed out [slashdot.org], this was done decades ago. It used to be that all of our plastic grocery bags around here were made out of biodegradable plastic.

    Then we started to ask questions like; "So what happens to the biodegraded bags in landfills?" and, "why do these bags suck so badly?"

    Neat idea, but it's not necessarily any better for the environment, and at the time they were a pain in the ass.
    • Translation for those slashdotters who are too young to have been whiny self-centered yuppies in the 'Reaganomics' 80's:

      It turns out that the bags didn't degrade in landfills because they needed sunlight.

      And, yes, a lot of them broke before you could get your groceries home.

      That doesn't mean that such efforts are impossible or unimportant. It means that preserving the environment might end up being more expensive or less convenient in the short term than continuing to destroy it.

  • "Ever wonder why Zik Zak burgers come in plastic packs? Some of the plastic rubs off on the burger and doubles the nutritional value."

  • Not new, just new versions... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by docwhat ( 3582 ) on Saturday June 14, 2003 @01:57AM (#6197895) Homepage
    While in college, I went to an Agriculture College Open House at the University of Illinios at Urbana/Champaign and they had this stuff there at the time. This would have been around 94 or so.

    They even had packing peanuts made of the stuff that they handed out for people to eat (it was very very bland, but edible). I figure you could live off of it if you got trapped in a UPS truck or something.

    Anyway, I think it's a neat idea. At the time, the packing peanuts were cost effective (and were going to roll out in a company someplace. I saw them a few years later) but the harder stuff wasn't yet. But they had examples of stuff molded out of it.

    Ciao!
  • from the linked pdf :-

    "Place a tablespoon of cornstarch in a plastic zip lock bag."

    alrighty then... :)

  • Greenhouse gas sinks (Score:4, Interesting)

    by TheSync ( 5291 ) on Saturday June 14, 2003 @09:56AM (#6199105) Journal
    The most interesting environmental question is whether carbohydrate-based plastics are a net greenhouse gas sink. Oil-based plastics pull carbon out of the ground, and put it back into landfills.

    Carbohydrate-based plastics actually pull CO2 out of the air as plants grown (good), but if they do decompose, the carbon is released as methane gas, which is actually a more powerful greenhouse warming gas than CO2 (bad).

    In the future, we may move from plants to GM bacteria that have hyper-efficient photosynthesis / chemosythesis and cellulases for materials prodcution.

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