IBM invents Earth-friendly plastic made from plants

[CLANG]

http://rawstory.com/2010/03/ibm-invents-earthfriendly-plastics-plants/

IBM researchers on Tuesday said they have discovered a way to make Earth-friendly plastic from plants that could replace petroleum-based products tough on the environment.

The breakthrough promises biodegradable plastics made in a way that saves on energy, according to Chandrasekhar "Spike" Narayan, a manager of science and technology at IBM's Almaden Research Center in Northern California.

Almaden and Stanford University researchers said the discovery could herald an era of sustainability for a plastics industry rife with seemingly eternal products notorious for cramming landfills and littering the planet.

"This discovery and new approach using organic catalysts could lead to well-defined, biodegradable molecules made from renewable resources in an environmentally responsible way," IBM said in a release.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

1. I always though there should be a way to make plastic polymers out of non-fossil organic material.

And that it was only a matter of time.

This could be the key for truly sustainable life.

[trotsky]

3. So true.

The end of oil for energy purposes is certainly a scary enough prospect, but when you just take a look at the impact plastic has had on our lives - the flexibility in manufacturing, shipping, storing, you name it - THAT was enough to send shivers down my spine all by itself.

[hobbit709]

2. Henry Ford did this in the early 1900's

http://www.hempplastic.com/newSite/hp_aboutplastics_fordcar.htm

[Pharaoh]

4. # 5

What a great Idear!!!!!!!!!

[RedEarth]

5. More from NYT article

Organic catalysts could create a new class of biodegradable plastics to replace those that are difficult to recycle, such as polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, used in a variety of consumer products, including plastic beverage bottles.

These new green plastics could also potentially be used by the pharmaceutical industry as drug delivery devices to treat cancer, according to Mr. Narayan. “The pharma industry has a lot of good drugs on the shelf that they can’t use because they are very toxic,” he said. “You could encapsulate drugs in a bioplastic polymer and deliver them directly to the cancer site. The polymer degrades locally at the site and releases the cargo.”

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/scientists-develop-highly-recyclable-plastic/

[Mari333]

6. will this ever see the mass market light of day???

or will the goddamned petroleum companies squash it again.