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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."
Now every time I go to the local electronics shop and ask for the corn discs, they're going to assume Korn discs, and everyone who goes in looking for Korn discs will have the same problem.
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
The average consumer is never going to buy a bio-degradable disc if its three times the price of a regular one. The only way to make them popular in the market is have the software and music companies use them and eventually it will trickle down to everybody.
Taken from Microfilm.com: "Under less-than-optimal storage conditions, digital tapes and disks, including CD-ROMs and optical drives, might deteriorate about as fast as newsprint - in 5 to 10 years. Tests by the National Media Lab, a St. Paul (Minn.)-based government and industry consortium, show that tapes might preserve data for a decade, depending on storage conditions. Disks -whether CD-ROMs used for games or the type used by some companies to store pension plans - may become unreadable in five years."
How many times have you seen CD's left to reflect the sun onto the ceiling? Long after the data is lost due to lack of care, the plastic will still be hanging about. I think CDs that have a physical life span are a great idea for the environment. Companies which do look after their CDs can still get their longer lasting ones.
Biodegradability is nice but will somebody please check to see what percentage of our landfills are CDs (and CD cases). I've heard that in that category, yard and lawn waste is one of the leading contenders. Which I might note is biodegradable but won't because nothing biodegrades in an anaerobic landfill environment.
Only problem is that once something "biodegradeable" is buried in a landfill it never goes away. There was a show on a Nova like program about it. In 1000 years you will be able to show the history of makind with garbage.
Sort of like looking at the layers of rock now and seeing fosils from prehistoric times. Instead of animals it will be cartons of milk and boxes of Hungry Man dinners.
Where am I going and why am I in this handbasket?
Say what you want, but in 3000 years those CD's will be in much better shape then a book.
The BBC project to preserve the doomsday book (onto laser disk) was rendered unreadable by advances in computer technology in less than 10 years, whilst the original has been around for ~1000 years and is still totally legible.
The British Government still archives data onto vellum (goat skin) because it has a life span of >>1000 years, but CDs become unreadable in under 10 (maybe 20 for the very best well handled media).
Now, if the data is only going to last for 10, whats the problem with making sure that the media breaks down in 50 instead of leaving it to uselessly fill up a landfil - plus these new ones wont leech industrial chemicals into the water supply, unlike the slower degredation of conventional CDs.
Beep beep.
Actually, feeding the starving millions is pretty easy, as far as getting enough food is concerned. There really isn't a food shortage.
Now, getting the food to them, thats where the feeding gets difficult. If we could figure out how to make sure people got the food they needed, we could end world hunger damn quick.
The problem is, transportation is really expensive. Much more expensive than food.
Also, something which helps keep corn farmers afloat will help deal with such problems in the long run.
Additionally, no current CD is going to last 3000 years. Period. Current CDs only last 50-100 years as it is before the substrate is corroded to the point that the disc is unreadable under even optimum conditions. So I'd much rather have the important ideas written down on paper than on a CD.
Marxism is the opiate of dumbasses
It's not like you can use corn for anything else, is it ? - like feeding the starving millions in the third world.
The hunger in the world is mostly man-made. Lift the tax barriers, and the third world will feed itself in a few years.
echo '[q]sa[ln0=aln80~Psnlbx]16isb572CCB9AE9DB03273snlbxq' |dc
You wouldn't want to do that, because, while food aids can make you feel all helpful and generous, they actually help to destroy local agriculture, by reducing demand and thus reducing revenue for farmers and the motivation to build up a farm in the first place.
/puts on tinfoil hat
It would be more reasonable to give technological aid by helping with e.g., irrigation infrastructure. By doing this you could employ and educate local (third world) technicians and help build up a solid agricultural industry, which is the basis for any further advances like industrialization.
On the downside the third world countries could lose their dependance on the first world, hence we give food aid.
the most sexp i get is my paren-mode.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
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...
Tax barriers? What tax barriers? What country has these tax barriers?
Yes, I know, the US has a very onerous tax structure. One of the reasons I didn't go into farming. But that doesn't stop one starving Rwandan from getting some corn meal or wheat flour. (or a nice pound of ground round that ate corn for the last 1000 lbs of its life)
How about the evil Marxist dictators that are the real cause of most countries' food shortages? Spread some democracy and capitalism around and you will fix more hunger than anything else. It will last much longer than JAH (Just Another Handout).
Actually, we've got way too much corn. There was a great article in the NY Times magazine called "The (Agri)Cultural Contradictions Of Obesity" (Oct. 12 or 13, I think, but too old to link for free) which explains how:
1) the price of corn directly affects the prices of many other food items;
2) we produce way too much corn due to a screwy corn subsidy program which encourages farmers to produce as much as they can, rather than as much as we need, and this drives the price down to the point where we all get hurt;
3) overproduction leads directly to increased consumption, and this is the reason that Americans are experiencing an epidemic of obesity.
It's an astounding article -- head to the library and look it up, or just pay the Times a buck or two... it's very persuasive.
I've been saying right along how i'll buy from indie music groups and movie groups, just to support them. And that i'll pay more for higher fuel efficiency, and that i'm willing to try to only bring home glass and cardboard food containers, so that the glass and exterior cardboard can be recycled. And that i'll buy recyclable/renewable products. *sighing and getting out the wallet* But i'll admit that you who told me that it made more sense to demand approximate equivalency in products have a VERY valid point!
But now it's a chance for me tocheer for the idea, again, and i will. Nobody's going to change ANYthing about waste management until it's a crisis, or because the market insists upon it. This is not the answer, no- this is just a start. But there are lots of things that can be done with trash other than bury it, and it has to start in my home where i decide what kinds of trash i'm going to buy in the first place. (especially since i'm one of the ones who whines about it.)
i realise that other consumers may not feel the same way, and that there's really no reason why you should have to- having the larger part of the populace hold out for a more cost-effective products is important- that steers the market, too.
Now, all i can say is- they better not package this stuff in a regular plastic case with a regular plastic spindle, or i'm going to be so bloody ticked off!!
"I'd say 'Have a good time,' but arson is still illegal.
Oh man, talk about a scam!
1. Convince people that 'oh yea, these will decompose a hundred years after I am dead' and sell CDs for 3x normal cost.
2. ???
3. Profit!
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
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.