Sturdy, degradable materials made from plants and other non-petroleum sources have come a long way in recent years. For example, cornstarch-based packing peanuts disappear simply by dousing them in water, and some utensils are based on polymers synthesized from plant sugars. But those packing peanuts can't be used to protect anything wet, and plant-derived polymers still take a long time to break down. One potential alternative is a new type of rigid material designed from isomalt, which is a sugar alcohol rather than a polymer. With isomalt, bakers can create breathtaking, but brittle, structures for desserts, and then dissolve them away quickly in water. So, Scott Phillips and colleagues wanted to boost the sturdiness of isomalt with natural additives to create a robust material that degrades on-demand.
The researchers heated isomalt to a liquid-like state and mixed in either cellulose, cellulose and sawdust, or wood flour to produce three different materials. Then, using commercial plastics manufacturing equipment, the materials were extruded into small pellets and molded into various objects, including balls, a dodecahedron, a chess piece and flower-shaped saucers. All of the tested additives doubled the strength of isomalt, creating materials that were harder than plastics, including poly(ethylene terephthalate) (known as PET) and poly(vinyl chloride) (known as PVC), but were still lightweight. In experiments, samples dissolved in water within minutes. And saucers made of the material, and coated with a food grade shellac and cellulose acetate, withstood being immersed in water for up to seven days. However, once the saucers were broken and the coating cracked, they rapidly disintegrated in water. The team also repeatedly crushed, dissolved and recycled both coated and uncoated objects into new ones that were still as strong as the original items.
The researchers say that the material could be used for food-service items and temporary décor, and then crushed and sprayed with water to fall apart. But even if such items were simply tossed into the trash or somehow got into the environment, the slightest crack in the coating would start their collapse into sugars and the plant-based additives, which the researchers say might be good for soil.
There is also a video version of this press release
(Score: 5, Touché) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Saturday April 22, @09:44PM (6 children)
Quality cutlery that you buy one and lasts a long time is uncool. And of course, nevermind silverware that you pass on to your offsprings. All products must have a built-in expiry date nowadays.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by EvilSS on Saturday April 22, @11:03PM (3 children)
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22, @11:15PM
Knowing the GP, I think it may be both...
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 23, @01:17AM (1 child)
You might be the moron. You seem to think you know everything, but there are more possible meanings. He was being sarcastic. If you don't understand sarcasm, that's fine, just move along, no negative comments necessary.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 23, @02:09AM
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 23, @12:05AM (1 child)
This is a replacement for plastic utensils that are already used and thrown away by the billions.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 23, @02:54AM
Use disposable bamboo chopsticks or wood utensils instead? The slightest crack won't cause them to start dissolving/disintegrating and leeching "additives" into your food/drink.
If such stuff is dumped in a landfill it's sequestering carbon. It also can be burned for energy if you're disposing it via the incineration route. If littered in the open it biodegrades too.
Note: many larger bamboo utensils and cookware may require glue to be made so avoid those. The smaller stuff like chopsticks and small spoons don't normally require any glue or similar.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by looorg on Saturday April 22, @10:07PM (1 child)
So there isn't enough sugar in the food anymore, now you need some extra sugar in your cutlery to. Here have an extra side dish of diabetes. So will they come in cool flavors and such? I don't believe that sawdust and sugar are great taste combinations.
While it's neat and all and it can be done isn't perhaps reason enough to do it. That said I'm sure it will fit right in with the current fast-food trends -- after all here you don't even get a plastic straw anymore, if you want a lid for your cup you have to ask for that, those little bags of ketchup those you have to ask for to. After all they want to keep up their environmentally friendly image over your convenience. Even tho having a fast food place in the first place probably isn't very environmentally friendly to begin with.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22, @10:49PM
Nor is it 'fast' these days...
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22, @10:55PM (1 child)
All that work, all that research, and they could just have used either bamboo or wood cutlery, they wouldn't have had to mix in cellulose, sawdust, nor wood flour because *it's already made of all that* and rather biodegradable thankyouverymuch.
Some of these scientists never saw Jurassic Park (the original one), did they? They would do well to listen for the words of Dr. Ian Malcolm.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Saturday April 22, @11:40PM
Bingo. We had wooden cutlery when I was a child. And paper straws. Wooden bowls. Paper napkins. What am I forgetting? Wood utensils, etc, will last as long as you take care of them - stop taking care of them, bury them in the yard or something, and they go back to nature pretty quickly.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Snospar on Saturday April 22, @10:56PM (2 children)
I'm going to assume this is as a replacement for plastic cutlery and not, as others have commented, to replace the stainless steel cutlery that has served me for years and will continue to serve long after my death.
It's funny, now that most people seemed to have agreed that global warming is real and that it is mainly to blame on the toxic petrochemical industries we suddenly start finding all these biodegradable materials that we could have been using all along. Didn't I read about furniture made from fungi recently?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 23, @02:57AM
If such stuff is dumped in a landfill it's sequestering carbon, so the more of these you landfill the less CO2 in the atmosphere. It also can be burned for energy if you're disposing it via the incineration route. If littered in the open it biodegrades too.
Note: many larger bamboo utensils and cookware may require glue to be made so avoid those. The smaller stuff like chopsticks and small spoons don't normally require any glue or similar.
(Score: 2) by jb on Sunday April 23, @06:20AM
One should be careful not to misinterpret the word "toadstool".
(Score: 3, Insightful) by darkfeline on Saturday April 22, @11:03PM (6 children)
If this really worked, they'd better replace the straws ASAP. Because we already have straws that degrade on demand. As in, they degrade the moment you need to use them. I wonder if restaurants have thought of reformulating their drinks to take into account the added bamboo flavor.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 3, Informative) by Mojibake Tengu on Saturday April 22, @11:35PM (5 children)
No problem with straws now. Instead of plastic straws, they are selling bent stainless steel metal straws here in local supermarket.
I am not disappointed. Those little pipes have plenty of other useful purposes, good enough for building gadgets out of them with couple of servos.
The edge of 太玄 cannot be defined, for it is beyond every aspect of design
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 23, @07:34AM
The ironic thing is most of the countries where these things (stainless steel straws etc) are in fashion, aren't as responsible for the plastic waste ending up in the oceans.
In contrast the top countries responsible for the oceanic plastic are a lot less keen on those stainless steel straws.
Pick whichever statistics you prefer to believe, but I haven't seen any global list with US or Europe on top.
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/visualized-ocean-plastic-waste-pollution-by-country/ [visualcapitalist.com]
https://www.reusethisbag.com/articles/countries-that-pollute-most-ocean-plastics [reusethisbag.com]
https://www.statista.com/chart/12211/the-countries-polluting-the-oceans-the-most/ [statista.com]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 23, @12:09PM (3 children)
It's going to get expensive throwing away stainless steel straws after each use. The only time I (and, I think, most people) use straws is when eating out, and I'm certainly not going to bother bringing my own straw to use in a restaurant (or car), which I then have to seal up in something and bring home to wash.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Ox0000 on Sunday April 23, @12:51PM (2 children)
Out of genuine interest: why does one even need a straw? What's wrong with drinking from the glass/cup/mug?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 23, @02:59PM
2) Drinking from a straw = less staining/damage on front teeth from the drink (some drinks are staining and/or acidic). If you drink in a certain way with a straw you might even have less damage on your back teeth e.g. try have less of the liquid touching your teeth. It's harder to do such stuff when drinking without a straw.
3) Less lipstick on the cup/glass.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 24, @08:50AM
In part because paper cups aren’t particularly strong, and the plastic lid adds considerable rigidity and strength to the cup. And when using a lid, drinking through a straw is less likely to result in spills than trying to drink through a hole in the lid. Especially when one is driving (not having to top one’s head back to take a drink).
(Score: 2, Touché) by istartedi on Sunday April 23, @12:30AM
Couldn't help but be reminded of this scene [youtube.com]. The relevant part is at the end, but the whole thing is classic.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 24, @06:04AM
MMMMMM...sugar.....GGGAAAGGHHHH