Plastic without oil has arrived! And its biodegradible!

[Atomic_Piggy]

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/flat/bown/2007/green/item_63.html

 

[Muffin Man]

I came.

 

[CyberPitz]

Pretty nifty

 

[Ravioli]

nice, now i can calm down a bit.

 

[Raziaar]

Sweet! Plastic is the only worthy product from petroleum that I feel deserves to stay around.

 

[lePobz]

OK, just try and keeping your drinks in a biodegradable drinks bottle for longer than a few minutes. Biodegradability is a bit of a limiting factor here.

 

[delusional]

This is a little late since there is already an island made up of plastic the size of Texas. Well maybe now it won't reach the size of Alaska.

 

[kirovman]

Plastic without oil has arrived! And its biodegradible!

And the only way to make it is from Uranium!

 

[delusional]

And the only way to make it is from Uranium!

You didn't even read the link..

 

[Raziaar]

OK, just try and keeping your drinks in a biodegradable drinks bottle for longer than a few minutes. Biodegradability is a bit of a limiting factor here.

Well, we don't know if it degrades in a short period, or a year or five years. I'm sure it'll be able to be developed to allow common usage like cups and plates without people worrying about it biodegrading while they eat.

It's so crazy that it is made from E. coli though...

E. coli... Not just for spinach and chicken any more!

 

[kirovman]

You didn't even read the link..

Pfft, if I read every link on the internet, I'd have no time to compose witty responses to posts.

 

[Polaris]

Yay for science. Biotechnology is AWESOME!

 

[Remus]

And the only way to make it is from Uranium!

Waaahhh!! My skin is pealing OFF!! But hey at least my plate is biodegradable!!11


Seriously now, this is good news however there are some products currently made from plastic that I wouldn't want to be biodegradable. For example computer hardware. You've just bought yourself a new keyboard, the next day it's a stinking pile of goo. YAY!!:|

 

[Pesmerga]

Biodegradable doesn't mean it's going to melt in your hands you dumb shits. Houses aren't going to collapse because wood is biodegradable.

The main disadvantage with oil-based biodegradable plastics is that their degradation contributes to global warming through the release of carbon dioxide as a main end product. This does not apply to starch based plastics as they are formed from carbon which is already in the ecosystem (via photosynthesis). Another disadvantage with biodegradable plastic is that degradation occurs very slowly, if at all, in a sealed landfill. Also, biodegradable plastics cannot be mixed with other plastic sent for recycling: This damages the recycled plastic and reduces its value.

Those are the disadvantages.

 

[Sedako]

It's so crazy that it is made from E. coli though...

The plastic itself isn't made from E. Coli bacteria. It is made from the polyester granules that are created when the engineered E. Coli digests corn sugar. Unless that's what you meant and I interpreted it wrong

 

[DEATHMASTER]

However good it may be, we won't use it because we haven't used a new thing out of the quadrillions we've heard of already.

 

[Raziaar]

The plastic itself isn't made from E. Coli bacteria. It is made from the polyester granules that are created when the engineered E. Coli digests corn sugar. Unless that's what you meant and I interpreted it wrong

That is what I meant... I know the E.coli itself doesn't form it... but they produce the stuff.

 

[Parrot of doom]

The important question is how energy intensive is it compared to oil-based products?

 

[Kula Meenur]

Ha! Wow... pretty cool Lego made out of this stuff would be neat!