Slashdot Mirror
US Military Seeks Biodegradable Bullets That Sprout Plants (newatlas.com)
The Department of Defense is looking at ways to clean up the hundreds of thousands of training rounds used by the U.S. army. It is putting out the call for the development of biodegradable ammunition loaded with seeds that sprout plans after being discharged. New Atlas reports: At military facilities across the U.S. and indeed around the world, a huge number of rounds are fired for training purposes, ranging from low-velocity 40 mm grenades, to mortars, to 155 mm artillery rounds. All of these feature components that can take hundreds of years to biodegrade, and falling onto the ground in such great numbers means that finding and cleaning them up is no small task. But left behind, they can corrode and pollute the soil and water supplies. So the Department of Defense has put out a call for proposals through the Small Business Innovation Research agency that solve the problem. The DoD describes the solution as a naturally occurring biodegradable material that can replace those used in current training rounds. It imagines that the biodegradable composites will be capable of holding bioengineered seeds inside (a technology it says has been demonstrated previously), that won't germinate until they have been in the ground for several months. Then plants will sprout from the discharged ammunition that actively remove soil contaminants and consume the other biodegradable components. Also imperative is that animals are able to safely consume the plants.
The Army knows from history just how badly the environment can be devastated by combat, or in this case by being used as a training range. Small parts of northern France have been sealed off since the end of WWI as the Zone Rouge both because of the huge quantity of unexploded ordinance and the amount of other toxic materials in the ground, and it may take up to 700 more years before some parts become safe to use. In fact, there are two small pieces of ground where soil samples are up to 17% arsenic, and 99% of all plants that sprout there die. They're trying to find a way to prevent creating more dead zones by using practice ammo that's not made of toxic materials, and I think that's a Good Thing.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
The local skeet range covers a portion its costs with recovered lead. The majority is from range fees and selling targets, but collecting lead is profitable.
Every two or three years (depending on metal prices) they scrape the top six inches of soil off and centrifuge out the metal. Shuts them down for about two weeks. Apparently their is a company that roams around, providing this service.
Rifle ranges aren't that tough to cleanup. Artillery ranges on the other hand, spread the metal further and thinner.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
There's nothing wrong with cutting costs and reducing pollution. These rounds aren't being made for killing people.
Actually they may kill people. By planting seeds and growing plants on a live fire training range they are potentially hiding unexploded ordinance. Making it harder to recognize and increasing the likelihood of accidental detonation.