from the better-living-through-botany dept.
The CBC has an article about a new company using Milkweed fibre to clean up oil spills.
François Simard, creator of Protec-Style, has a contract with Parks Canada to supply national parks with oil-spill kits. The kits come with various sizes of absorbent tubes filled with milkweed fibre.
Simard says milkweed has a unique ability to repel water, which makes it perfect for oil spills on land or water.
"You can leave an absorbent [milkweed] sock in water and it will only absorb the oil. It's very unique in nature to have fibres like that," said Simard in an interview at his factory in Granby, Que.
The new crop is also good for monarch butterflies, which only lay their eggs on the milkweed plants. According to the Simard:
"There were so many butterflies in the field that people on the road … had to stop," he says. "They were wondering what was happening. It was just growing 20 hectares that made the whole difference."
I wonder what other weed plants have novel commercial uses? Maybe someone can find a good use for Thistle or Kudzu?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 03 2014, @04:58AM
Kudzu is for eating - and honey [azcentral.com]
Also the wrong kind of milkweed can attract monarch butterflies when they ought to be flying south instead, because it flowers later into the winter months.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 03 2014, @05:18AM
This calls for an experiment: how many butterflies does it take to lead a herd of hipsters to jump off a cliff?
(Score: 2) by caseih on Wednesday December 03 2014, @06:43AM
Milk weed has really invaded my area and it's a real problem for agriculture. Hard to control, and it spreads. I think it's coming through the irrigation ditches somehow. I'm glad there's a good use for it now. Farming it on a large scale could be a real problem for the neighbors, though! But hey we raise Canola as a crop widely, and it's one of the most prolific weeds I know (though easy to kill).
(Score: 2) by caseih on Wednesday December 03 2014, @06:49AM
Interesting article, particularly the bit about milkweed being beneficial to monarch butterflies. We've had monarch butterflies migrate through in the past, but never milkweed before (it's a recent thing in my area), so I never made the connection. I'll look at Milkweed differently now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 03 2014, @06:53AM
It cures cancer as well.
(Score: 2) by fliptop on Wednesday December 03 2014, @07:24PM
I find milkweed beneficial, not only does it attract the butterflies but I use it to determine when to mow my fields. I wait until after it blooms as an indicator everything's gone and it's safe to break out the brush hog.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
(Score: 1) by WillAdams on Wednesday December 03 2014, @02:29PM
Thistle is useful for making paper and fibers, the flowers can be used as a dye, and there are various herbal uses, esp. in teas.
Kudzu is a favoured food for goats in addition to being edible by people, and using the vines for handicrafts is an old tradition. The roots are rich in starch and a possible source for biofuels. It'd be better to just eradicate it though.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday December 03 2014, @10:31PM
Good luck with eradication.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Wednesday December 03 2014, @09:44PM
Too bad there isn't a handy use for oriental bittersweet, which can grow several feet each year. It doesn't bloom until at least two years of growth, so maybe that could be used as well.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Pav on Thursday December 04 2014, @10:08PM
...soak up oil but repel water? I know! We can soak up oil spills with sea birds! Time for a patent.