Compostable Goods on the Rise
With plastic bag bans growing in popularity in U.S. cities and entire nations, such as China, the market for bags made from corn is expanding, according to Riverwired.
McKinsey & Co. estimates the field will be worth more than $100 billion by 2010.
Unlike regular plastic bags, the bags derived from corn are biodegradable. Bioplastics can be made from corn, cotton, wood, wheat, soybeans and even bacteria.
Researchers are working to refine the production process, which still requires a lot of petro-energy.
The plastic is even hitting the electronics market, according to the article. Some items being made with biodegradable plastic include:
- Portable music players
- Laptops
- Specialized medical devices
- Toyota has plans for a biodegradable car
Still have plastic bags sitting around your house? Use Earth 911′s recycling locator to find a drop-off in your area.
As of June 17th 2011 we have upgraded our comment system to use Facebook comments. The below comments are closed and are listed for historical purposes.
brianne
posted on June 11th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
I love the new products coming out that are using corn-based materials. We just launched a new organic Tea called Tetulia. Our outer package is made of recycled cardboard and is compostable. Our silken pyramid tea bags are made of a corn-based product and they are biodegradable. It’s so wonderful that we are coming up with alternative options to protect our earth.
Brianne
Tetulia Tea
http://www.TetuliaBlog.com