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Sanyo Develops Corn-Based Biodegradeable CD
Recoil_42 writes "PC World has an intriguing article about one way to help ease a growing problem: computer waste. Sanyo, with the help of Dow, has created a biodegradeable disc made of corn. The discs take 50-100 years to degrade, well within acceptable limits, and should come to market by the end of this year. The speedbump, of course, is the projected price: 3 times that of a normal plastic disc, but that cost is expected to be reduced to 1.2 times as (if?) the discs become more popular."
That may be true but I wonder what the price difference is if they make the lactic acid directly from oil (like the plastic normal CD's are made of). That may be a bit less environmentally friendly but still better than non-degradable plastic.
-- Cheers!
Got mod points, but I gotsta reply.
In the Great State of Nebraska, we have taken 1.1 million acres of land out of production in the last 20 years or so. About 20% of our current corn production is being fermented into alcohol for use in E10 (Ethanol, 90% gas, 10% grain alcohol). Corn is still selling for less per bushel (currently around US$2/bu.) than it did 25 years ago (US$2.5/bu. give or take 2 bits) when I did field work for a seed corn dealer (a guy that raises the seed corn that other farmers buy to plant next year that becomes field corn that is made into corn flakes, alcohol, feed and hundreds of other things).
Why? We grow more corn than there is any possible need for as food. Per acre production is up about 50% in those 25 years. Last season a farmer in Iowa got test plots over 340 bu./acre. Dryland. That's FUCKING INCREDIBLE!!! Roundup-ready and corn root worm resistant varieties, plus the ever increasing yields via hybridization will continue to increase these yields.
Oh yeah, most of Nebraska is in a 4 year old drought, extreme conditions in the West and Southwest parts of the state. We will still have our second or third largest harvest of corn this year on record. Most of the corn is raised in less drought stressed areas, but it's been dry everywhere in this state for the last 2 years.
As for fixing the starvation problem, that has absolutely nothing to do with the amount of food available world-wide. Those people are starving because of three primary reasons: no or not enough local production; no source of hard currency or trade material to acquire food on the open market (what, you want farmers to give it away? Or maybe us taxpayers should foot the bill?); and the most common reason, evil Marxist dictators running (can it even be called 'running'? ruining is more apropos) these "poor" countries. These dictators often are the cause of reason 2, since they steal all the countries assets to build themselves lavish Presidential Palaces, buy expensive European cars and jewelry, etc...
While they might then have an abundance of imported grain, the destruction of the domestic industry means fewer jobs and paychecks to buy that food. Thus, the ridiculousness of American overproduction and Third World scarcity.
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.