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Using a special technical approach, the team is working on plastic films derived from konjac flour and starch, cellulose or proteins that are fully edible and harmless if accidentally eaten by people or animals—unlike health issues associated with microplastics and other plastic waste that make their way into the food chain.
The researchers have found that plant carbohydrate and protein macromolecules bond together into a special network structure during the film-forming process. The network structure provides the film with a required mechanical strength and transparent appearance for the film to be used as packaging materials.
The idea is to reduce incidence of plastic in the environment.
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Green and Edible Cling Film and Food Packaging Made from Plants
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Documentation:
Instructions translated from Swedish by Japanese for English
speaking persons.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday November 27 2018, @06:47PM (10 children)
Having edible packaging not only is good for the environment, but once Monsanto's plan is complete and the environment can no longer produce any kind of food, we will at least be able to eat the packaging. But maybe that is also part of the larger plan.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by qzm on Tuesday November 27 2018, @07:56PM (7 children)
How well does it hold up to bacteria, fungus, or mould?
Or have we simply forgotten the purpose of wrapping food?
IMHO attacking the massive OVER PACKAGING of things would be a much MUCH more productive start, but then that doesnt create a profit center for anyone.
We are banning supermarket plastic bags, and yet we still happily buy a big bad of chips containing a dozen small bags each containing about a dozen chips for kids school lunches.
We are drinking out coffee made from plastic single use, usually throwaway potlets of ground coffee.
I watch people pick up a bunch of bananas in the supermarket and double-bag it in the fruit+veg tearoff bags, then put it in their environmentally sound reusable shopping bag..
Plastic is a huge advantage for some food safety, but marketing and 'convenience' has created a packaging monster, that is the problem.
(Score: 4, Funny) by DannyB on Tuesday November 27 2018, @09:33PM (5 children)
Solution: employ people to remove the excessive packaging and repackage in something simpler. This can either be done as a post-production step at the product producer, or as an intake step at supermarkets.
If enough thought is put into it, there must be a way to get the government to pay for a program like this.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday November 27 2018, @10:15PM (4 children)
It 's funny... until you look at it and realise it had good chances to happen as you described.
this should say a lot about my confidence of humans manifesting common sense
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday November 28 2018, @02:24PM (2 children)
This is why we should not be colonizing other planets. And certainly not out to the stars. If we can't even stop ourselves from making this one uninhabitable, why should we get another one?
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 28 2018, @03:15PM (1 child)
The reasoning is the same as buying a new USB thumbstick because it is a lot easier than going through and managing the old USB thumbstick that is filled with a lot of unnecessary cruft. It's that whole needing to add energy to reduce entropy thing.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday November 28 2018, @09:23PM
There's no total reduction of entropy.
To live, an organism needs to increase the entropy of the environment more than the reduction of entropy necessary to maintain the life.
Extinguishing other life forms unnecessarily (e.g. by poisoning the env with plastics) runs contrary to the purpose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday November 28 2018, @03:59PM
Now that's comedy!
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday November 27 2018, @10:31PM
It's biodegradable, so YMMV.
I assume it's safe for some time and if you keep it dry, but inevitable it will absorb some water and allow the bio- to -degrade it.
Since it's digestible by humans, I suspect it's quite energy rich for microbes/fungi. I mean, look, microbes are able to break down cellulose and chitin as a food source, humans can't
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 28 2018, @12:01AM (1 child)
Edibly packaged booze has existed for awhile already:
https://www.candywarehouse.com/foiled-chocolate-liquor-bottles-24-piece-display/ [candywarehouse.com]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 28 2018, @03:33PM
Yes, but after I eat those, it hurts when that foil comes out the other end.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday November 27 2018, @06:54PM (1 child)
I wonder if cling wrap is the thickest? Could this tech be used to make bags, forks, straws, cups?
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday November 28 2018, @07:25AM
They say you can eat without troubles (thus, you should be able to digest it). Which means a couple of hours in a warm and wet environment should transform it in some kind of goo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 27 2018, @06:56PM (1 child)
The important part is that it could biodegrade. Although it would be funny to toss cling filmed veggies or meat into boiling soup in order to eat the melted plastic.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Sulla on Tuesday November 27 2018, @07:38PM
Might be convenient if it acted as a thickener to be used instead of cornstarch/flour
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Tuesday November 27 2018, @07:07PM (4 children)
It is 100% biodegradable and almost 100 years old.
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday November 27 2018, @07:47PM (2 children)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellophane [wikipedia.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday November 27 2018, @07:57PM
Similar to my question about this one then :
> from konjac flour and starch, cellulose or proteins that are fully edible and harmless
The problem with the word "from" is that the base properties don't necessarily apply to the "into", or the process.
Oil is made from biodegradable and often healthy products, but plastic made from oil ...
(Score: 4, Funny) by legont on Tuesday November 27 2018, @08:15PM
Similar to solar pannels, the production can be outsourced so we enjoy clean environment.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Tuesday November 27 2018, @08:01PM
It's still around. I remember it as the main packaging for stuff like crackers and candy until companies started to use the plastic film from dead dinosaurs in the late 50's and early 60's. It is rather stiff and hard to reuse so fell out of favor against cling wrap and plastic bags.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellophane [wikipedia.org]
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 5, Informative) by requerdanos on Tuesday November 27 2018, @07:39PM (9 children)
Before plastic became common, with the consequence of megaplastic, macroplastic, and microplastic pollution and associated ills, what packaging did humankind use, and what were the consequences?
The following packaging materials are considered on their own merits. Consider that they can be produced with or without adding solvents, coatings, and/or preservatives that are themselves envrio-evil:
Wood: Is recyclable, reusable, and a naturally biodegradable fertilizer. Toxic or poisonous: No
Glass: Is a recyclable, reusable natural mineral, another form of sand. Toxic or poisonous: No (inert) (unless it's still sharp)
Rock, Stone, Etc.: Recyclable, reusable natural minerals. Toxic or poisonous: No (inert)
Paper ranging from tissue to paper with or without wax to cardboard to corrugated fiberboard: Is recyclable and is a naturally biodegradable fertilizer. Toxic or poisonous: No
Metal containers made from metals such as aluminum or tin: Are metals from the earth, easily recyclable and returned to the earth if discarded. Toxic or poisonous: No
Metal foils such as aluminum or tin: Are metals from the earth, easily recyclable and returned to the earth if discarded. Toxic or poisonous: No
Cellophane: So named because it's made of cellulose, a natural fiber from things like wood. Is recyclable and is a naturally biodegradable fertilizer. Toxic or poisonous: No (Note: The team is working on a film derived from cellulose? There is material here that could be studied towards that end.)
Now, before plastics became widespread, perhaps 50 - 60 years ago, these were leading packing and packaging materials for somewhere between 10,000 and 10,000,000 years of human packing and packaging history.
Sure plastics have advantages, but the fact that plastic is simultaneously also so disadvantageous that people are cooking up konjac flour cling film is a sign that perhaps we as a packing and packaging society might need to rethink our default go-to packing materials.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday November 27 2018, @07:51PM (1 child)
Ceramic
Leather/skin (accidental source of humanity's first cheese/yogurts?)
People are buying glass mason jars and pyrex like hotcakes these days.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday November 27 2018, @08:12PM
We threw out all our plastics to use glass storage containers. It works pretty well.
Kids' snacks are a little harder, because glass is heavy and breakable and they'll never bring it back. Wax paper works well for sandwiches, but less well for chips.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 27 2018, @08:07PM (1 child)
(Score: 3, Informative) by DannyB on Tuesday November 27 2018, @09:39PM
Aluminum is even more energy consuming to produce than it is to recycle. To recycle it all you have to do is melt it. It takes even more energy to produce than to melt. Hence it is profitable to recycle aluminum. Enough so that you can get paid by the pound for aluminum.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday November 27 2018, @08:09PM (4 children)
I modded you +1 Informative because your post is great, except that several of those packaging products are massively polluting when they are produced.
This of course is offset by the fact that many of them are reusable.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Tuesday November 27 2018, @09:03PM (2 children)
Which ones are polluting to produce?
I wish we could adopt German culture in regards to glass containers. I remember while visiting that you returned your empty bottles to the store, they were cleaned and refilled, and then put back out on the shelves.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday November 27 2018, @09:24PM
Paper factories can be massively polluting, although modern one don't tend to be so much.
Source: Worked in the printing industry for ~20 years.
Metals and glass production also pollute, although the potentially long life of the product might mitigate this somewhat.
I am not disagreeing with your basic point, just pointing out the possible effects.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Pslytely Psycho on Tuesday November 27 2018, @10:00PM
When I was a kid that was true here in the US as well. We used to round up bags of bottles to sell back to the stores at a nickle apiece. Lots of neighbors would give them to us just so they didn't have to haul them back themselves. Loved the old man on the corner, addicted to Coca Cola. He always had a bag or two every week for us.
So it's not a matter of adopting German culture, but reviving American culture.
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Tuesday November 27 2018, @11:10PM
That's kind of like the argument one hears sometimes of "Oh yeah? Well electric cars might be emissions-free but lots of the electricity comes from coal so the cars are very polluting to the atmosphere!" No, the cars aren't polluting the atmosphere--in fact those cars can be emissions-free and hydrocarbon-fuel vehicles can't, ever. You can combine emissions-free vehicles and charging them on green energy and get your emissions-free transportation; there's no law that says you have to add coal.
In the same way, these materials aren't polluting, massively or otherwise. In fact, these materials can be pollution-free, and plastic can't, ever. You can combine these materials and non-pollution-introducing manufacturing methods and get your non-polluting materials; there's no law that says you have to manufacture them in environmentally hazardous ways.
I point this out in the sentence before the list begins.
Sure, you can make rainbows and sunshine "evil pollutants" in this way by adding carcinogens and spent nuclear fuel--that doesn't make rainbows and sunshine bad things, it just makes you inept at environmental conservation. Blaming the rainbows and sunshine for "being massively polluting" when what they actually are is "massively polluted" kind of misses the point of this exercise.
(Score: 3, Informative) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday November 27 2018, @08:55PM (1 child)
It's not just photosynthesis: if you throw them on the ground or in the ocean, they will compost. They work just fine for wrapping food in.
A while back I read that street vendors in Thailand used to wrap their food in banana leaves. Their clientele thus grew accustomed to throwing the leaves on the ground, where they never caused any problems. But when those vendors commenced using plastic wrap, there was a substantial littering problem.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 27 2018, @09:13PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAYL5H46QnQ [youtube.com]