Corn-Based Plastic

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.

Comments

Sounds Fantastic -- Now Why Not Hemp

[Nom du Keyboard]

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.)

Economics

[meta-monkey]

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:Nice

[brunes69]

Since glass is just melted sand, couldnt glass just be ground up into fine sand?

Disney uses this...

[JTFritz]

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 :)

Re:How long till it decays

[HaloZero]

What if such chemical were.. say.. methane? Naturally occuring, and is already ever-present in landfills.

Re:Yeah, what about ethanol?

[benjamindees]

What bullshit. No one is planning to distill ethanol with 'gasoline'. We can use our copious amounts of natural gas and coal, hell, even nuclear energy to create enough ethanol to last for centuries. The article you cite only reaches such absurd conclusions because it includes solar energy as an input.

In actual 'energy' usage, ethanol does require more energy to create than it offers. A lot of that energy comes from the sun, though, instead of from limited resources. Think of it as a way to convert sunlight and any random heat source around 200Â F into automotive fuel. In that regard, I'm pretty sure it's even more efficient to produce than hydrogen that is electrically 'cracked'.

Another benefit of ethanol is that it is a clean, safe liquid fuel that is completely compatible with existing combustion engines.