Biodegradable plastic?

[PurpleDragon]

NewsTarget) A California start-up company has found a way to produce plastic items -- such as forks, knives, cups and food packaging -- from a cornstarch compound, rather than traditional petroleum-based compounds.
Frederic Scheer -- CEO of Santa Monica-based Cereplast -- found a way to make organic plastic materials that can decompose in a landfill in anywhere from 60 days to three years. While three years may seem like a long time, Scheer says his products dissolve far faster than regular plastics, which can take more than 100 years to fully decompose.

"Our resin is primarily designed for products to be composted," Scheer says. "It will go back to water, CO2 and biomass (often) in less than 60 days."

In addition to Cereplast products being far friendlier to the environment than regular plastics, they are also as cheap or cheaper to produce than petroleum-based plastics -- especially with gas prices on a long-term climb.

"In the past, one of the problems was everybody wants to be green, but nobody can afford it," Scheer says. "We believe we are the same price or lower."

Cereplast has successfully pitched its products to disposable-cup giant Solo, which will begin selling a paper cup coated with Cereplast later this year. Cereplast's products were also favored at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, where Scheer won a contract to supply the games with utensils made of biodegradable starch. In October, Scheer will fly to Beijing to pitch his products to 2008 Olympics organizers.

Though Cereplast hopes to be able to produce a billion pounds of resin per year within five or six years, Scheer says it will still be a small provider in the overall plastics scheme, since petroleum-based plastic companies sell roughly 115 billion pounds of resin a year in the United States alone. However, Scheer predicts the biodegradable plastics industry will become more and more viable as fuel prices rise, since organic plastics require less fuel to create.

http://www.NewsTarget.com/020135.html

[the.fee.fairy]

At BGG they were selling water made by a company called Belu. their bottles are fully biodegradable too. They're made from corn starch (even the lid) so i can see how this would work!

I hope it all takes off, can't stand the waste at festivals.

[Ranter]

De Montfort Hall, in Leicester, uses plastic glasses (?) which apparently biodegrade in about 30 days in sunlight. I keep meaning to bring one home & try it, but somehow after draining a few of their contents I don't remember

[hedgewizard]

De Montfort Hall, in Leicester, uses plastic glasses (?) which apparently biodegrade in about 30 days in sunlight.

but not in dark conditions, like say a composter?

[Chickpea]

De Montfort Hall, in Leicester, uses plastic glasses (?) which apparently biodegrade in about 30 days in sunlight.

but not in dark conditions, like say a composter?

Or 50' down in a landfill.

[Wombat]

Interesting thing that back 30 years ago when I was working in the chemical industry (Yes, I know, you all thought I was in kindergarten 30 years ago........ ) an Australian starch company N.B.Love were working on the same thing. I never did find out what happened.

Nev

[hedgewizard]

There was a plastic based on geranium products (yes, you heard) in the 80s... the trouble with it was that it swelled when it got wet! I think a variation of that technology went into the gel crystals that people mix with compost now.

[Ranter]

Can't give more info on the plastic from De Montfort Hall. 30 days in sunlight is the information given on a poster in the bar. once I did bring home the bottom of a plastic glass, cut off so that I had the web address of the manufacturer. I didn't get round to checking it & now can't find the disc of plastic. Think my friend must have chucked it when she was staying here (pc is in spare room).

Will try & remember to do the same again, next time I'm there. Nothing planned at present though, the only act I want to see is too expensive in my current impecunious circumstances.

[LSP]

It sounds attractive to have 'plastic' that biodegrades or fuel that is derived from plants. But part of the problem appears to be (and I am no expert) that instead of food (like corn) being grown to feed people (including the starving millions), land is being cleared to farm corn to make plastic and biofuels.

Now, how is this so different from burger chains clearing forests to grow grain to feed animals to make burgers? Just as some of us now choose to eat no or less meat so that others might have something to eat, should we also not think let's use less fuel and plastic so that food can be grown for food and not some unnecessary disposable habits that we have acquired?

[PurpleDragon]

... once I did bring home the bottom of a plastic glass, cut off so that I had the web address of the manufacturer. I didn't get round to checking it & now can't find the disc of plastic. Think my friend must have chucked it when she was staying here (pc is in spare room).

Perhaps it biodegraded?

[Stonehead]

It sounds attractive to have 'plastic' that biodegrades or fuel that is derived from plants. But part of the problem appears to be (and I am no expert) that instead of food (like corn) being grown to feed people (including the starving millions), land is being cleared to farm corn to make plastic and biofuels.

Now, how is this so different from burger chains clearing forests to grow grain to feed animals to make burgers? Just as some of us now choose to eat no or less meat so that others might have something to eat, should we also not think let's use less fuel and plastic so that food can be grown for food and not some unnecessary disposable habits that we have acquired?

Exactly! It's like so many of these things - designed to allow the continuation of mass over-consumption and consumer capitalism. When you use up one resource, simply find another to over-exploit in its place.

[den_the_cat]

Now, how is this so different from burger chains clearing forests to grow grain to feed animals to make burgers? Just as some of us now choose to eat no or less meat so that others might have something to eat, should we also not think let's use less fuel and plastic so that food can be grown for food and not some unnecessary disposable habits that we have acquired?

In principal I agree but in practise the existing farmland in the developed world grows much more grain than we use and large amounts rot in grain mountains or are destroyed.

While it would be best if the subsidised foodstuffs that we don't eat were given to people who need it that doesn't happen in practice, so as a middle ground solution its better that farmers are subsidised to grow crops which can be used to reduce waste in other areas than be subsidised to grow crops which do nothing but cost taxpayers money.

[ina]

I favour the idea of not growing stuff to produce more waste, degradable or not, but to extensify production world-wide, thereby using less inputs that in themselves are dependent on oil...